


Past, Present, Future

by MelSkyfall



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also Team As Family, Character Growth, Characters Watching Voltron: Legendary Defender, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Baggage, F/F, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Issues, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prepare yourselves for a lot of character growth, Rating changed to Teen and Up due to minor language and innuendos, Set after season one, They kind of have to, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Watching the Show, and 'future' could be considered everything after season 2, everything before season 2 is the 'past', minor OCs - Freeform, ok so some actual tags now:, post-wormhole, present is technically what is happening in the theater, she just doesn't care but would rather go as she/her most of the time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-04-25 08:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14374587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelSkyfall/pseuds/MelSkyfall
Summary: A 'Watching The Show/Movie' Voltron FanfictionOr: In which I waste my time rewatching all the Voltron episodes many times and make my ships sail :3Warning: EXTREMELY slow updates. I will update this vent fic when I will update this vent fic.





	1. "Friends & Families"

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go children! Be ready to read in which I waste my time (in an extremely productive way) watching and pausing episodes over and over again all while Audio Description is on for a little help. I figured that there simply weren't enough 'Watching The Show' in the Voltron fandom and decided to take upon myself the project of making a chapter for every episode. Even future ones that have yet to come out yet.
> 
> Thank you for having found this and even clicking! You cannot imagine how much that already means to me. 
> 
>  
> 
> **Edit: This was written before the last two (three?) seasons of Voltron came out, which means some characterisation might be off. This only has to do with the first episode and prologue though.**

**••** **━━━━━** **••●••** **━━━━━** **••**

  
In all honesty, watching the Voltron Paladins and two Alteans land in a giant pile of people was amusing. To Mel anyways.   
  
Okay, fine, she made them all land in a specific way.   
  
Little Pidge was cradled protectively into Shiro's arms as Hunk's burly form crushed them, fatherly instincts kicking in with the teenager at least 10 years younger than him. His elbows dug into Allura's stomach right under his back. Keith and Lance's legs were tangled in such way that Mel wondered for a second if it was too uncomfortable. Blush adorned both the boys' cheeks, Coran unfortunately draped over both their forms and Hunk's feet resting on the Altean's back.   
  
"Lance -- get off!" Keith shouted, squirming and hands repeatedly pushing up against the chest crushing him. Hunk allowed himself to roll off everyone, Coran slipping off Lance head first, making Coran do a weird flip that would create a bump on his head.   
  
With Hunk off of him, Shiro allowed Pidge get out of his restrain. Unfortunately for him, the petite girl literally stood on his chest and jumped off. She dusted off her clothes and adjusted her glasses previously smashing her face and nose.  
  
Allura pushed Shiro's arms off her body, wiggling out of her position and standing. Shiro stood in turn, no one neither over nor under him. He gazed at Keith and Lance struggling to detangle from each other's legs. Finally taking pity on the two boys, he went over and helped them.   
  
"So," Keith started as he could finally stand on his own two feet and blush fading, "will someone tell me where the quiznak we are?"   
  
"It appears to be the Earth equivalent of what is a cinema," Coran stated.   
  
"That is true, thank you Coran." Mel finally spoke up, the sound of her heels resonating in the room as she walked closer for them to notice her. The seven whirled around to look at where the feminine voice came from. A slight lisp underlined her tone and accent.   
  
What was surprising though, was the feathered wings attached to her back.  
  
"Who are you?" Shiro slowly asked, as if weary of startling her. Mel rolled her differently tinted brown eyes.   
  
"Where are we?" Allura snapped. Space parents; so protective.   
  
"Well, it is a bit like a space pocket," she answered, looking around the room. "An alternate universe of some sorts. Whichever you prefer, but we're in the middle of different worlds."   
  
Hunk opened his mouth to say something, eyes wide as they flew around the room. Sadly for him, poofs of smoke started appearing in various parts of the giant room, revealing humans when it faded away. Some landed in little piles like themselves, some standing and staggering on their feet, and others appearing in various positions in the chairs themselves. A few were in their pyjamas.   
  
"Just some company of people I am sure you want to see again," Mel said to dismiss any fear, a genuine light smile playing on her lips.   
  
"What do you me -- Marco? MARCO?!" Lance exclaimed.   
  
"POLO!" a voice shouted out. At that, Lance went barging into the room in search of his family members. Shouldn't be too hard; they made up half the amount of people there.   
  
A moment later, Pidge was hugging her dog right before her mother saw her, and Hunk was receiving slaps in the back as tears streamed down his face and a messy hug by a flour-covered mother. Allura and Coran looked around the room with fond smiles and eyes.   
  
"I don't like all of this," Keith mumbled, sticking to Shiro's side for the moment that his three other teammates embraced people into hugs. Hunk even hugged some members of Lance's family as the Cuban boy introduced him. Shiro only chuckled at the boy's obvious dislike of all the affection.   
  
"Shirogane. Kogane." Said Paladins immediately tensed up at Iverson's voice calling their names out and stepping in front of them. Allura and Coran looked at them in curiousness as Mel wore an annoyed yet resigned expression. A distrusting feeling was filling the atmosphere around them.   
  
Shiro opened his mouth to say something when a petite feminine figure stood came in front of them and immediately slapped the man. It was so loud conversations stopped short and wide eyes looked on at the scene. Iverson was as impassive as ever but the angry red mark on his cheek and the look in his eyes gave everything away.   
  
"Do you not dare speak to my hermano's friends and my future brother in law!" She shouted, sun kissed skin two shades darker than Lance's, black hair tumbling in waves all around her face, and light blue eyes a sharp contrast to the rest of her physique. "They went and came back from space and I know you well enough through Lance to know that they do not need to deal with your sh--"  
  
"Veronica!" Lance shouted from the other side of the room as he tried to get out of Hunk's hold, "don't take the joy of I myself doing that by going all protective sister on me!"   
  
Mel sighed; time to do something. Dude needs to be alive for this and she knew from family and friends that angry hispanics from anywhere could kill. Especially for family.   
  
She unfurled her wings and allowed them to stay a little higher in the air; no amount of heels could compensate for her stature compared to the people in this room. The only ones actually shorter to her actual height would actually be Pidge and Lance's sister.   
  
"Will you all pay attention here please!" She shouted through the room, throat instantly drying. Damn soft voices, she thought. "Please go sit in your assigned seats and sofas! I let you all hug and kiss each other but now you need to listen to me!"

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

"So you're telling me that the only reason we are here," Pidge started with a raised eyebrow, "is for us to watch our past, present, and... and future?"  
  
"Yep, though I may have a few personal reasons," came Mel's easy response as a little arrow clicked on a profile called 'Meli' under 'Who's Watching'. Netflix, a few vintage cultured ones recognised. She had a laptop on her crossed legs in a white part of the sofa with what seemed to be an apple shaped symbol on the back and golden rose colour in general. From the right corner sat a black cat's lithe body. Ahh, the perks of writing yourself and being able to own things you could most likely never afford. "Mostly for my own personal amusement. You know, ships to sail, bonding moments to come, realisations for everyone. The usual."   
  
Pidge looked over her shoulder, "How is everything you do on the big screen? There's no cables and it's live? You also didn't transfer the images to the big screen so how are we seeing what you're doing?"  
  
Mel sent her an incredulous look, "you mean you guys don't have bluetooth? Years later than my time, what my timeline and world would consider the future?"  
  
"Heard of that name before," Pidge nodded, "but I read it was abandoned years ago by an old company called 'Apple'."  
  
"You mean they sold blue toothed apples? My, you Earthlings are truly bizarre creatures!" Coran exclaimed, a twinkle in his eyes and twirling his mustache.  
  
"Bloody universes," is what Mel muttered before turning back to the little computer. On the giant screen, the mouse clicked on an image with two glowing Galran eyes. She flew off for a second and came back a second later without the computer.   
  
"Take a seat children, Paladins and Alteans with me around your respectable colours. Alteans are the very light blue part."

A few pairs of eyes flickered at the many empty seats still around them.  

**••** **━━━━━** **••●••** **━━━━━** **••**   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find this same story on Wattpad right [HERE](https://www.wattpad.com/story/143919262-past-present-future)! 
> 
> Find this same story on Fanfiction.net right [HERE](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12909578/1/Past-Present-Future)!
> 
> Go follow my Instagram [HERE](https://www.instagram.com/melskyfall/) for any updates and fanfics to come!


	2. "The Rise of Voltron"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes: This will contain the whole first episode, so this chapter WILL be long and the characters’ comments. You have to admit, the reactions don’t get good until later in the season, so I hope you won’t get too bored as I try and make this an enjoyable story for you all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N; This will be long as i will be fitting the whole first episode in this single chapter. The transcript itself was 54 pages long on my docs and then 81 pages when I added the whole story itself (add approximately 8000 words). You don’t have to like it but at least appreciate that I spent much effort on this whole thing please; that is all I ask. Took me an hour to barely do a few minutes. xD 
> 
> Anyway! So sorry for taking so long to update ;-; Ever since the date for the third HTTYD movie was officially revealed… wellll… I might or might not have started planning a few new fics. Planning, not writing, and not all HTTYD. There are these two other great Voltron stories I’m sure you’ll all love, but I’m trying to focus on Secrets and another original work with my friend. 
> 
> I have also been drowning under exams and tests and teachers seem to be giving us more homework than ever??
> 
> Rahh, I’m rambling now -- enjoy reading! Chapters should be coming much more quickly than this one, now that the super long episode is out of the way.

**_The Rise of Voltron_ **

  
**•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••**

 

**Scene: In outer space, the sun appears as a dim light in the distance over an ice covered globe. Words appear, stating ‘Kerberos: Moon of Pluto’.**

 

“So, will this be on how Shiro, Matt, and my father disappeared?” Pidge asked, her mother going a bit pale. Mel’s expression only sombered as she nodded slightly. It was the only confirmation she needed before looking back at the episode playing, the curious glint of a Green Paladin well present in her eyes.

 

**On the surface, two men and a teenage boy stand beneath a tripod that draws a cylinder out of the ground by a cable.**

**[Man 1] Easy, son. This ice is delicate.** **  
  
****[Boy] Amazing. Isn't this exciting, Shiro?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] You guys get a little more excited about ice samples than I do.** **  
  
**

A few chuckles came from different parts of the room, a tearful one from Colleen Holt and a more fond one from Pidge.

 **  
** **[Man] This is history in the making. Not only have we traveled farther than any human ever has, but this ice could hold microscopic clues about the existence of life outside Earth.**

 

“You really were serious when you mentioned this fact!” was Coran’s exclamation from the other side of the sofa.

“They truly were,” Mel nodded, “In my timeline humans barely went to the moon 46 years ago. For an object…” she trailed off as she looked at the wide eyes of the two Alteans. “...it also barely went a little outside our solar system.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Boy] Think of it, Dad. We could use those clues to become the first people to meet aliens.** **  
  
**

 

“Wouldn’t that technically be true though?” Hunk asked. A few murmured to each other a few words.

 

 **  
** **[Man] My life's work would be complete.** **  
** **  
** **(Pluto’s moon begins rumbling under the three’s feet, shaking some materials.)** **  
** **  
** **[Man] What is that? Seismic activity?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] We should get back to the ship.**

 

**(A spaceship appears in the sky above them, deep purple with luminescent lights of a brighter purple shade.)**

 

“What’s that? Is that an alien spaceship mommy? Is it? IS IT?!”

No one answered the child as gasps filled the air.

 **  
** **  
** **[Man] What? What is that? It can't be.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro’s eyes widen before he starts dragging the other two away] Run! Come on, run!**

**(A purple beam radiates from the ship and pulls them inside as they all scream.)**

 

“That’s it? What even happened after?” Marco, Lance’s brother from earlier, asked frantically.

“Patience child, we’re barely in the episode.”

 

 **Scene: The blackness slowly fades into colours as Shiro regains consciousness.** **  
** **  
** **[Muffled Galran voice] Emperor Zarkon, we were scouting System X-9-Y as ordered when we found these primitive scientists. I don't think they know anything useful.**

 

“Didn’t you say something about an evil alien emperor called Zarkon earlier, Lance?” One of Lance’s cousins or whatever asked. No one with the information to answer dared to say word in response.

 **  
** **Zarkon: Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation. The druids will find out what they know.**

 

 **(On the bridge of the ship, a large purple and pointy eared alien stands before a shadowy figure on a screen.)** **  
** **  
** **Shiro: Please, we come from a peaceful planet! W-We mean you no harm! We're unarmed! (groans)**

 

“Peaceful planet who hates its own people for a simple skin tone or thought,” was muttered into the room. A heavy aura followed the statement.

 

**(A huge robot drone in body armour clubs Shiro in the back with a rifle, knocking him unconscious again as the screen turns black once more.)**

 

 

 **Scene: An Alien drags Shiro in a corridor with lime and violet lights.** **  
** **  
** **Voice 1: Look, they brought in another one.** **  
** **  
** **Voice 2: Who is it?** **  
** **  
** **Voice 3: Over there. It's another one.**

 

Most of the room looked on intently, curious on what actual aliens could possibly look like. Most, minus the very few, had never seen anything as such as an intelligent life outside of a machine or human. What could these creatures… people truly look like? Truly _be_ like?

 **  
** **  
** **Shiro: Huh? (Shiro gasps after turning his head to a window and looking in on an enormous chamber with triangular pods protruding from the walls.)**

  
  


**Scene change: On the flydeck of a space cruiser, an image of Kerberos from orbit appears on the screen. Words appear -- ‘One Year Later’.**

 

Lance’s eyes widens as a smirk slowly starts appearing on Pidge’s lips.

 

**Scene: On board are a brown hair teenager, a heavy set young man, and a smallish teenager in glasses. They were recognised as Lance, Hunk, and Pidge/Katie.**

**[Lance] Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin descent to Kerberos for rescue mission.**

 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN RESCUE MISSION?!?!” Hunk’s mothers screeched as Pidge burst out into a full blown belly laugh under Hunk and Lance’s flustered flush.

“N-n-n… NothIING LIKE THAT!” Hunk screeched in a panic as Lance hid his face in his hands. “It was a simULATOR!!”

“You mean the simulator you threw up in and Lance completely failed?” Pidge cackled some more as Lance whined. “I really need that jar you put a dollar in every time I am right. I would be rich!”

“No spoiling for the others please,” Mel sighed. This was going to last _so_ long.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Keith argued, resting his elbow on his lap and chin in his palm. “I want to know about this crashed simulator back at the Garrison.”

“Shut your quiznak!”

“Whiiiiiicchhhh,” Mel clasped her hands together, “you’ll be seeing in a few seconds.”

“OH!” Keith looked on with a smug grin in the Cuban boy’s direction, “so you’re saying that it DOES happen?”

“You sick or something, mullet?” Lance snapped back, “‘cause you seem unfairly cheerful right now.”

“Always about hearing of your delightful failures,” the boy deadpanned, a blank look back on his face. Mel sighs once again out of utter exasperation.

 

 **(The cruiser tilts towards the moon.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk groans] Lance, can you keep this thing straight?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Relax, Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for the stick. I mean it's not like I did this!** **  
** **  
** **(Hunk groans a second time as the cruiser moves even more.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Or this!**

 

“You do realise the simulators are not a toy to play with, right son?” Maresa Valdez gently questioned, levelling him with an interrogative and cautious look. Her son had to chanel that goofiness somehow, and she had hoped flying and its simulators would have helped to some level. Perhaps he still had a way of growing needed.

“It was a toy,” Lance muttered with a pout, “compared to the Blue Lion and saving the universe.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk groans once again at the motions] Okay, unless you want to wipe beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing, you'd better knock it off, man!**

 

“Eww!” most of the room exclaimed. Those who did not make a noise simply scrunched up their nose.

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] We've picked up a distress beacon!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] All right, look alive, team! Pidge, track coordinates.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Copy.**

 

“And here we see dearest Lance putting his leadership skills to profit!” Coran exclaimed. Lance sunk a little lower in his spot as Pidge snickered more. _At least he had tried to do something properly._

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Knock it off, Lance! Please!** **  
** **  
** **(computer beeping)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] This one's on you, buddy. We've got a hydraulic stabilizer out.**

 

“See! Not only my fault!”

“Totally your fault,” the eldest McClain, Luis, nodded, “he had no control over vomiting.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk whips out a computer screen then swallows hard as rumbling starts] Oh, no.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] “Oh, no?-” Fix now, puke later.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge is heard over the loud beeping sound] I lost contact. The shaking is interfering with our sensors.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Come on, Hunk!**

 

“Putting the pressure of succeeding on one team member is not right, Lance,” Shiro said in the whole magnificence of his Dad Voice™️. People chuckled a little.

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk breathes out hard] It's not responding. (moans)**

 

 **(A circle appears on the view screen.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Oh, never mind, fellas. Thar she blows. Preparing for approach on visual.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] I don't think that's advisable with our current mechanical and.. gastrointestinal issues.**

 

“You really should start listening to me more.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Agreed.** **  
  
**

A few laughs resonated in the room as Lance whined. “Why are you all ganging up against me?”

 **  
** **[Lance] Stop worrying. This baby can take it, can't you, champ? (the cruiser rumbles again.) See? She was nodding. She was nodding.**

 

“Yes, Lance. _It_ was definitely agreeing with you,” Keith looked at him with a serious expression, yet his eyes held that spark of mischief.

“Hush! Respect your elders, child!” Lance exclaimed, a blush covering the bridge of his nose and cheeks once again.

“I’m older than you.”

“SHHH!!”

 

 **Pidge, hail down to them and let them know their ride is here.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge unbuckles her seatbelt] Attention, lunar vessel - (screams as she falls.)** **  
** **  
** **(more rumblings shakes the cruiser.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] What are you doing? Buckle your belt. And, Hunk, stop that shaking!**

 

“At least… his leadership skills were… present?” Allura hesitantly asked. The room laughed once again at the Altean princess’s question. Mel frowned slightly, as another being in the room also stayed silent.

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I'm try- Oh, no. (vomits)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Attention, lunar vessel, this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Coming in for landing and extraction, (mumbles next part) against crew recommendations.**

 

Another short laugh from the room, and Mel could join into this one. Who can’t appreciate sarcasm and sass? … Never mind, do not answer that.

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] No time for your mutinous comments now, Pidge. They're going under and we're going in.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Look out for that overhang!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] No worries. My first year in flight school, know what they called me? They called me "The Tailor" because of how I thread the needle.**

 

“Cute,” Veronica snorted.

“Adorable,” Marco echoed.

 

 **Come around, come around! Come on, come on!** **  
** **  
** **(A crashing sound is heard as Hunk’s computer is beeping once again.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] We lost a wing!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Oh, man. (beeping continues)**

 

“An it was at that moment, ladies and gents, that Lance fucking Charles McClain knew he was fucked!” Mel couldn’t resist,

“Katie dearest, love, do you need a dictionary? Perhaps a Thesaurus would help expand your vocabulary?”

 **  
** **  
** **[A loud crash is heard as everything goes black and Computer says in a monotone voice the words that appear on the cruiser’s view screen] Simulation failed.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Nice work, Tailor.**

 ******(A hatch opens as a man appears behind the crew of three.)**

**[Iverson] Roll out, donkeys! (We now see Iverson from a different viewpoint as Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are out of the simulator.) Well let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students. Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?**

 

Iverson, whom Mel had honest to the Gods forgotten about, straightened out with a satisfied look on his face, no doubt thinking back to this day and proud of his students. His other students, not those three. Maresa had a frown adorning her otherwise graceful features, _‘that man is still at the Garrison?’_

 **  
** **  
** **[Student 1] The engineer puked in the main gearbox.** **  
** **  
** **[Iverson] Yes. As everyone knows, vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems. What else?**

 

Perhaps a little too dry for a sensible being like Hunk, but some people’s eyebrows started to furrow. These were kids and teenagers, far from legally an adult and even further biologically.

 **  
** **  
** **[Student 2] The comm spec removed his safety harness.** **  
** **  
** **[Student 3] The pilot crashed!** **  
** **  
** **[Iverson] Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they’re arguing with each other. Heck, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a team! Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astro explorers, but these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission.** **  
  
**

These kids were going to go to space some day if the chance came, they needed harsh truths. That was something most could understand, of course the commanders and teachers were going to be extremely pushy and bluntly point out their faults! Yet, there was something nagging in many’s minds -- this wasn’t right. Something was missing.

“What does he mean, ‘cost the lives’?”

Many turned to look at Shiro, once more remembering that this man and two more were declared dead to the whole wor- planet.

“We had been told,” Colleen carefully started, “on the news, that you had all crashed due to poor control over the ship.”

Lance looked at his mother who gave him a sad look, Pidge and Hunk frowning toward his left. What had their families been told when they disappeared, off to space in a giant blue cat without a warning? None of the three teenagers asked, so no friends or family mentioned anything.

 **  
** **[Pidge lets out an exclamation as his fists clench to his sides] That's not true, sir!** **  
** **  
** **[Iverson barks out] What did you say?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance’s hands fly towards Pidge to cover his mouth] Sorry, sir. (Pidge makes muffled noises.) I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken.**

 

“Thank you, Lance,” Pidge mumbled, taking a hold of the boy’s forearm and clutching it, gluing herself to his side with her head resting under his shoulder like his little cousins would sometimes do. He smile warmly but small, unable to help the warmth spreading through his body and circling his heart.

“No problem, sis.”

Familia. Family is what they had all become.

 **  
** **[Iverson takes a few steps over to stand right in front of the trio, Lance especially and addressing himself directly to him] I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out. (He puts an emphasis on his next words.) Don't follow in his footsteps. Next!**

 

Keith frowned in his corner of the sofa and closest to Mel. Was this why Lance declared them as rivals? How he seemed to immediately know who he was talking to when they saved Shiro and always looked for a chance to rile him up? He looked at his fellow Paladin from the corner of the eye, his expression matched his screen counterpart’s look. His train of thoughts was stopped by Veronica’s indignant screech as everyone whirled around. His eyes caught her flying hair as she hurled herself at Commander Iverson.  

Keith… couldn’t help but allow some amusement slip into his mind.

And Mel? Mel was two seconds away from banging her head to the wall. She didn’t even bother doing anything and turned back towards the screen that restarted at her thoughts. She ignored the curious or mad looks sent in her directions; Veronica needed to get it out of her system and she wasn’t patient enough to wait it out or mediate.

 

**Scene: In a corridor of the school’s dormitory, Lance and Hunk peek around a corner.**

 

“Sweet Jesus, what did you get Hunk into, Lance?”

 **  
** **  
** **[Iverson] Lights out in five! Everyone back to their dorms. Now.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] We shouldn't be doing this.**

 

“You most likely shouldn’t.”

“You don’t even know what we were about to do!”

“I do know the three of you somehow were outside of the Garrison and followed me to Shiro.”

“Shut up, Mullet!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team. We're going to grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls - (The lights turn off.)**

 

Luis leaned over the sofa to smack his little brother in the back of the head, “ever the womaniser.”

“Hey! You can’t blame me for admitting my attractions!” Lance pouted as he rubbed his head with a hurt glint in his eyes at the violence.

“You could do them in a more sensible way,” was all Luis declared before sitting back and looking at the screen.

“Jesus, what did Angelica do to you?”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Okay, I'm-I’m just, I’m just saying this here, right now, on the record: This is a bad idea. (Hunk follows Lance down the corridor.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don't have much of a sense of adventure.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] All of your little “adventures” end up with me in the principal's office.**

 

“For a good reason.”

“Come on! Is it ‘Let’s All Bully Lance’ Day?! I just spent a few months in space, you know!” Lance indignantly huffed. Some had the sensibility of looking a little guilty.

Key word being some -- the others just gwaffed some more.

 

**(Lance peeks into a window in the crowded instructors’ lounge then ducks back down and crawls past it.)**

**[Hunk follows after he sighed out two words] Oh, man.**

 

 **(In a corridor, a guard passes two garbage cans.)** **  
** **  
** **[Guard speaks into radio] L-5 north all clear.** **  
** **  
** **(Lance grunts as he climbs out of one of the cans; the blue one.)** **  
** **  
** **(Hunk grunts as he tries to pull himself out of the other but gets stuck and falls over, letting out a scream)**

 

“Is this a foreshadowing scene, Miss Mel?” Allura asked, “with the respective colours matching the paladins’ quintessences?”

“Yes, I strongly believe it was,” Mel paused her sentence for a little before she kept going, “and please, do not go around calling me ‘Miss’ or any other title, Princess Allura. I have many years left before becoming old enough to be called such.”

The light haired Altean smiled slightly, “only if you will stop addressing me as Princess and speaking in such formal manners, Mel.”

“Deal.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I'm fine.**

 

**(A door opens with a swooshing sound, Lance and Hunk hide behind a wall then watch as Pidge steps out of a room and continues down the corridor.)**

 

“That looks creepy, now that I see it again,” Hunk pointed out quietly, “it looks like you stole or were trying to smuggle something out.”

Pidge simply shrugged nonchalantly and resumed to watching the screen, intrigued by seeing everything happen in a third person point of view and not her own or another one of her teammates. “Technically was, when you think of it.”

“True, true,” Hunk nodded.

“What even were you doing Katie?” Colleen asked with a bright curiosity in her eyes, “you never did quite tell me the specifics to what you were going to do.”

She shrugged again, “I guess you’ll be seeing soon enough. Mel’s no spoiler rule and all.”

“Thank you,” Mel acknowledged as Pidge’s mother leaned back into her chair with a nod in response.

 **  
** **[Lance] Where is he going?**

 **  
** **(On the roof of the base at night, Pidge wearing headphones sits before a laptop linked to a small satellite dish. Faint electronic beeping and a voice murmuring can be heard. Lance and Hunk approach Pidge from behind.)**

 

“I won’t even ask what you’re up to, sweetie. Just make sure to allow me to slap the males of our family when you eventually find them.” Pidge sent her mother a look. “What? You didn’t think you got that deviousness from your father of all people, did you?”

 

 **(Lance lifts the headphones.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] You come up here to rock out?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge gasps, startled] Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at the stars.**

 

Mel couldn’t resist, “... that expression is just too adorable, Pidge.” The slap on her arm that made Pidge stretch across the sofa was worth it.

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Man where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge wears a proud expressions] I built it.**

 

“Just look at that smugness,” Mel continued on with a smile, “so pure and self assured of your abilities.” Pidge body went over the whole sofa once again to swat at her, but this time, she kept her petite body over and and Keith, her feet coming up to Hunk’s lap and the elbow propping her head up on Mel’s lap.

“How are you even able to do this?” Hunk asked, “you’re literally crazy tiny!”

“Magic.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] You built all of this?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Ah - stop it! With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] That right? All the way to Kerberos?** **  
** **  
** **(Pidge groans)**

 

“I’m happy you wanted to try and find us Pidge, but you really shouldn’t have gone through all that trouble for our sakes.” The whole team fell silent at hearing Shiro’s comment.

“No spoiler rule says I can’t go on a full blown rant,” Pidge eventually started after a few seconds of silence, “but if I hadn’t been there, and if Hunk and Lance hadn’t followed me, none of this would have happened.”

“Wouldn’t that be better?” Shiro asked in retort, “the four of you could have continued on with your teenage lives and I’m sure the three of us would have figured something out.”

“The lions chose us, Shiro,” Lance suddenly had to snap, making quite a few jump. “We are destined to save the universe as Allura and Coran said many times and would be at the exact same place if not with a few years difference.”

“You _kids_ not wasting your childhood on a war would have at least been better!”

As the argument quickly got heated and the other people in the theatre got more and more confused, Mel quickly made the episode continue. The tense atmosphere wouldn’t fade for a while, but the episode’s distractions would at least mitigate part of it.

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge glares as Hunk touches the satellite dish] Second warning, Hunk!** **  
** **  
** **(Hunk groans)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake. (Pidge gets an extremely pissed off look at Hunk once again, losing patience.) Stop touching my equipment!**

 

Pidge whistles lowly, “damn, if I had know I was that scary when doing that, you would see that expression MUCH more often!”

 **  
** **  
** **(Hunk groans and allows himself to tip to his side.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] So, I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Whoa. What? Aliens?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Okay. So, you're insane. Got it.**

 

Most people of the room laughed at the comment, not very phased by the alien radio chatter thingy part. The kids had to have discovered that aliens really existed somehow. Most had already told their families that they were in space, and Lance yelling about a thousands of years old alien war was enough to tip them all off thank you very much.

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] I'm serious. They keep repeating one word, "Voltron." And tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] How crazy?** **  
** **  
** **[Iverson is heard over PA] Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.**

 

“You all should have listened to your superiors and let them take care of it, space cadets,” said Iverson with a menacing glare.

“You mean the Garrison is superior to the defenders of the universe?”

“The Garrison is equal to the government and greater than many people, not excluding a bunch of children and teenagers, even less a wannabe princess from another planet!” Iverson barked out.

“Pardon?!” Allura exclaimed, “I am the legitimate heir to the Altean throne and you will be ecstatic to learn that, compared to the whole universe, Earth counts as the most underdeveloped planets! Only a few were perhaps aware of life outside of your own planet, not even capable to finding the life on the other planets of your solar system!”

Iverson shut his mouth in front of a fuming Space Mom, Mel’s silent satisfaction very much present as the Paladins shamelessly high fived Allura.

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] What's going on? Is that a meteor? (He points towards a burning light in the sky.) A very, very big meteor?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge with binoculars] It's a ship. (He yelps.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance snatches the binoculars out of Pidge’s grasp] Holy crow! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] No. It's one of theirs.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] So, wait. There really are aliens out there?**

 

 **(The ship crashes to the ground in the distance. From the roof, they watch as the ATV’s drive off towards the crash site.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] We gotta see that ship!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hunk, come on!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever.**

 

“Agreed!” many of the family members in the room yelled out at the same time.

 

 **(On a cliff, Lance looks through the binoculars at the crashed ship.)** **  
** **  
** **(electronic beeping)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Whoa! What the heck is that thing? (A female soldier steps out of the ship) And who the heck is she?**

 

“Lance!” Luis leaned over once again to hit his immature of a little brother in the head, pretty hard might Mel add. Lance only grumbled a ‘let me live’ as he rubbed at where is older brother hit him.

 **  
** **[Pidge hits him] Lance!** **  
  
**

“We’re going to be great friends, Pidge dearest.”

“Agreed; we have to keep him in line.”

“My own brother and teammate, ganging up against me as one! The betrayal! My heart is hurting, really hurting right now! How _could_ you, Luis?! I expected it from Pidge but _you_ -”

“Yeah, yeah,” Keith waved off, looking back at the big screen, “we got it, Mr. Drama Queen.”

“Does that make you Mrs. Drama Queen?”

Keith and Lance spluttered, identical blushes staining their cheeks. They both sent Mel very similar glares, but she just shrugged. What? She had the make the Klance ship sail to Their Paradise Island _somehow_!

 **  
** **[Lance] Ow! Right, alien ship. Man, we'll never get past all of those guards to get a look.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Aw, man. Yeah, yeah, I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?**

 

“My son,” one of Hunk’s mothers, Alea, said, “always the voice of reason.”

In the meantime, Hunk’s _other_ mother, Tepora, had a very different opinion. “Manamea, he has to get out there and take risks too.”

“You mean rush into things like you? Rather not! He could get hurt. You always get hurt!”

Some sent the mothers an annoyed look, but everyone turned their focus back to the screen, the two woman still distantly bickering about a topic that shifted from their son to each other. It was obviously something that happened often, if Hunk’s easy going and fond smile was not enough to persuade anyone.

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Wait. They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look!** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro is strapped down to a table] Hey! What are you doing?**

 

A sharp intake of breath came from the Altean side of the sofa, Shiro having sat right besides Allura. Keith looked at him worriedly, shifting a little in his spot as he considered moving over to his closest friend. Mel put a reassuring hand on his arm and both shared a mini staring contest. Keith looked away first and seemed to calm down a little on the sofa.

Mel couldn’t help but think ‘I win’ when he looked away first.

 **  
** **  
** **[Iverson can be heard talking] Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds! (grunts) Aliens are coming! (grunts some more as he struggles against something)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance points at the screen] That's Shiro! The pilot of the Kerberos Mission! That guy's my hero!**

 

Shiro coughed awkwardly, “good to know.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Guess he's not dead in space, after all.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Where's the rest of the crew?** **  
** **  
** **[Iverson can be heard from the computer screen again] Do you know how long you've been gone?**

 ******[The viewpoint changes to where Shiro actually is, still strapped to the table with yellow bindings] I don't know. Months? Years? Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us. We have to find Voltron.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Voltron!** **  
** **  
** **[Man] Sir, take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.**

 

“Did they seriously just notice?” Veronica snarked, speaking for the first time in a while as she came out of her anger. “Totally superior people you have right there, Iverson. You didn’t know he had a prosthetic when you first caught him? I mean, I’m the half blind person here!”

Thankfully (unfortunately to Mel’s personal amusement), Iverson did not grace her with an answer.

 **  
** **  
** **[Iverson] Put him under until we know what that thing can do.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] No. No. No - no - don't put me under! No! There's no time! Let me go!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge speaks over more protestations from Shiro heard from the screen] They didn't ask about the rest of the crew.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] What are they doing? The guy’s a legend, they're not even gonna listen to him?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] We have to get him out.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] That was before we were properly motivated. We've just got to think. (He pauses to think for a second.) Could we tunnel in?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary - little late-night snack.**

 

No one commented anything. No one.

Okay, fine, a little snort at the other corner of the room and from Mel.

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] ..No. What we need is a distraction.** **  
** **  
** **(Explosions are made in the distance as all three teenagers let out individual screams.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk starts stammering] Is that the aliens? Is that the aliens? Are they here? They got here so quick!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] No, those explosions were a distraction, for him. The Garrison's headed toward the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side.**

 

**(A small hovercraft lands, a young boy with dark hair jumping off and hiding behind a big rock)**

 

“And there is when the good people finally come in.”

“What the quiznack do you mean, Mullet?!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] No way! Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me! (Lance runs off.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk hurries to follow his best friend] Who is it?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Keith!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Who?** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Are you sure?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Who's Keith?**

 

“I’m offended, Pidge,” Keith said, “seriously offended. How dare you not know who I am?”

“Shut the fuck up,” came the tiny girl’s response as she adjusted her position to curl between Lance’s legs, much like she did with her brother when she was a child. Colleen refrained from commenting of so. “I didn’t really care for gossip and you were gone when I got into the Garrison.”

“... still offended.” **  
  
**

**(In a lab, three men in suits stand over Shiro still strapped on the table.)**

**Man: These readings are off the chart.** **  
** **  
** **(The door opens as the screen zooms in on Keith’s face, lower half covered by a red-ish brown fabric. His blue-gray eyes express his fury as they narrow, seemingly almost violet.)**

 

“Purple!” Lance groaned in utter despair as he shoved his face into the mess that is Pidge’s hair. “Why are his eyes _fucking purple_?!”

Hunk patted Lance’s shoulder and Pidge laughed as Keith questioned “what did you say?” and Lance just whined into chestnut hair.

“Oh, nothing important, he was just pointing out the obvious colour of your eyes,” Pidge said with a devious twinkle in her eyes. A satisfied smile showed all of her teeth when Keith blushed bright, bright red from his neck to the tip of his ears. Lance, of course, could not seen it.

At least she got Rover to get a picture of it.

… Oups?

 **  
** **[Man] Hey!** **  
** **  
** **[Keith falls into a defensive position as the three men lunge at him. Keith thankfully sends them flying which instantly knocks them unconcious. He runs towards Shiro, pulling his mask down and turns Shiro towards him who groans at the movement.)**

 

Hunk’s father whistled lowly, obviously impressed but trying to muffle it. “They’re just scientists,” was the only sentence he offered.

“Scientists who I thought the garrison would do a much better job training, thank you,” was Keith’s snarky reply. The blush on his cheeks had been controlled, but no one could miss the flaming red of his ears or how he had zipped his jacket completely up to his chin.

 **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Shiro? (He cuts him loose and pulls him to his feet.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Nope. No, you - No, no, no. No, you don't. I'm saving Shiro. (He takes a hold of Shiro’s other arm.)**

 

Luis rolls his eyes but smiles fondly, “Here comes the foolish son.”

“I resent that!” Lance’s cry made everyone jump, though Mel would never admit it ever happening. “I will have you know that I have been very useful to the universe’s safety!”

“I’ll believe that when I see that. My averagely intelligent brother who failed his flight simulations? This has to be lies.”

“It’s not!” Lance’s body suddenly started flailing, knocking Pidge to the floor with an ‘oof’.

“Sharpshooter,” Mel suddenly pipped up, glaring at the screen as it refused to continue the episode. Seriously though, the one hour episode was going to become five if this continued. “Lance is the sharpshooter of the team and has and will always very well hold on to his title. Continue, please?”

Netflix only continued playing after the whole room had fallen silent, now not even listening to whatever Mel was saying. She narrowed her eyes at where her laptop layed, _‘traitor’_.

 **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Who are you?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance.**

 

Lance’s sister smirks, “Lance only uses that line when he’s trying to flirt with someone.”

“Like with Allura and Nyma,” Pidge nodded along.

The two girls shared a look after looking at the two boys, unable to determine which face was the brightest. Keith’s definitely, such pale skin unable to hide a simple blush. Lance’s face though was completely dark. The two now shared a goal: embarrassing the now dubbed ‘Klance’ all while making sure the ship sails. A mischievous smile started playing on Mel’s lips.

Things were going to get interesting soon on her watch.

 

**(He blinks twice.) We were in the same class at the Garrison.**

**[Keith] Really? Are you an engineer?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] No, I'm a pilot! We were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck.**

 

Hunk sighs and shakes his head, “this one sided rivalry of you will have to change at some point in time. It seriously messes with your head.”

Lance squawked indignantly, unable to hold back a reaction even though he was starting to get tired of the teasing. “It is not one-sided!”

“Yes, Lance, it is,” Hunk nodded, patting his bro on the shoulder when they slumped with his pout. “Keith just rises to the bait, which messes with his head too.” The only response Keith was able to offer was some sputtering at the accusation.

 **  
** **  
** **[Keith wears a deadpan and bored face] Oh, wait. I remember you. You're a cargo pilot.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith dryly answers] Well, congratulations.**

 

 **(Outside, the screen shows what Hunk is able to see with binoculars.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Oh, man. They're coming back and they do not look happy. We've got to go. (He and Pidge hurry to Keith’s hovercraft.) Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?** **  
** **  
** **(All five climb aboard. To Keith’s dismay, most likely.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge yells] Is this thing gonna to be big enough for all of us?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] No.**

 

“They escaped you on an old modelled hovercraft.” Colleen Holt could not hold back her unladylike snort as she started laughing to herself and, more specifically, toward Iverson. “An unconscious adult, the definition of a teenage boy, a simple engineer, my banned daughter, and the student you kicked out managed to escape you on an obviously handmade hovercraft that didn’t even have its double fuel tank.”

A flicker of curiosity appeared on Iverson’s features, “double fuel tank?”

“It’s what keeps the whole hovercraft balanced, but uses up a lot of fuel,” is all she offered in answer while glaring at the commander.

“Which Keith most certainly doesn’t need a balanced bike to get us out,” Shiro nodded with a proud smile. So _that_ was why he needed all of those old parts from Shiro’s storage room. Keith only looked at Commander Iverson with a smug smirk.

 

 **(ATV’s approach and Keith makes the hovercraft take off.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Why am I holding this guy?** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Hey, we did all fit.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Can't this thing go any faster?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] We could toss out some non-essential weight.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Oh, right! (He looks around for a few seconds.) ...Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.**

 

“See,” Luis started with yet another teasing smile, “he’s my foolish brother.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Big man, lean left!**

 **(Two of the ATV’s crash into each other and flip over.)** **  
** **  
** **[All but Shiro who is still out of it] Whoa!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Aw, man! Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery! No, no. He's fine.**

 

“And we should have cared because?” Pidge asked, all of a sudden making her presence known. She was hanging on the back of the sofa, hands unable to stop touching Mel’s wings. A smile was on Mel’s face, though some did notice how her features ruffled in mild annoyance as the teenage girl looked at the wings and wondering ‘ _how the fuck is she even able to carry these without toppling backwards??’_ **  
**

“Because it is our duty as students to make fun of teachers.”

“That,” Lance said, “was not what I expected. Bro, did I finally start corrupting you?”

“Maybe,” Hunk sighed heavily as he admitted his prior words.

 **  
** **[Keith] Big man, lean right!** **  
** **  
** **(All scream as Keith maneuvers the hovercraft along a rocky path along the mountain. The two remaining ATV’s launch into the air after them. One of them crashes into the rock wall.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Guys? (He stammers for a little.) Is that a cliff up ahead?**

 

“Keith…” Allura carefully started, synchronising with Space Dad at the same time much to Mel’s glee, might she add. _‘A lot of potential for a love triangle, hmmm?’_

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Oh, no, no, no!** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Yup.** **  
** **  
** **[Others] No, no, no!** **  
** **  
** **(All scream as Keith stears the hovercraft over the ledge of the cliff)**

 

“And this, ladies and gents!” Mel loudly exclaimed while she slapped her hands together, “is the perfect example of what would realistically happen if Keith came to lead!”

Many opened their mouths to say something but were cut off as the screams of the teenagers came back to life from the screen.

 

 **(They start plummeting down towards the ground.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] What are you doing? You're going to kill us all!** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Shut up and trust me!**

**(Just before they’re about to hit the ground, Keith pulls the hovercraft out of the free fall. They race off the rocky plateau. The remaining ATV sits on the edge of the cliff.)**

 

“Gods, break time people even though we’re only twelve minutes and thirty seconds in. Go to the bathroom, take care of your business, eat a snack from the fridge that just magically appeared,” people jumped as a red poof make a refrigerator appear and alongside it a long table full of diverse snacks and meals, “or from the table. Your pick. Pidge, there’s some… let’s say feminine products to not embarrass people in this room for you in my bathroom. You’re welcome to use my shower too, I doubt Allura’s anatomy is the same as us humans.”

Not even had Mel finished, Pidge bolted to the other side of the room, stumbling over a little cousin of Hunk’s before reaching a door. When she came back, about half an hour later, face expressing her bliss and body completely relaxed, she hugged the winged girl in thanks and almost fell asleep at the contact of feathers. Mel just laughed a little and sent her towards her mother, more than happy to take care of her blissed out daughter.

The adults of the Voltron family looked on the two females with a furrow in their brows or a downward tilt in their lips. They tended to forget, forget how three of the paladins were only mere children. Children who had been forced into space on a magical space lion.

“They’re okay,” Mel said with soft eyes and a small smile, head having to tilt up to look at the three people taller than her. The bitterness at her height did not reach her this time. “There might be some down times, but they have you and each other and they will be okay.”

The thought of all the possible outcomes of this war -- of all the possible horrible outcomes -- came to her. Her smile soured a little, which she did not doubt Allura, Coran, and Shiro had noticed though she tried to remain optimistic.

A new scene started when everyone settled back down in their seats.

 

**Scene: Outside a shack/farmhouse in an empty field, Shiro, and Keith enter.**

 

“Nice!” Marco exclaimed, “I would totally crash there to hide from Luis and his wife.” Said brother made an indignant sound from the back of his throat and Veronica leaned over to slap him in. “Veronica too, now that I think about it.”

The comment just earned him another slap, this one harder.

 

 **(The scene shifts to SHIRO who looks at his prosthetic hand with a worried expression.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith puts his right hand on Shiro’s shoulder as they look at each other] It's good to have you back.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] It's good to be back.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] So, what happened out there? (His hand slides off Shiro’s shoulder.) Where were you?**

 

There is a slight waver in Keith’s usually steady voice, Lance couldn’t help but notice. Then came to him the thoughts on how Keith was an orphan, how he got kicked out of the Galaxy Garrison where he technically lived, and how the shack he had brought them all to looked well lived in.

The other family members noticed as well, the parenting ones most of all how he was trying to keep a calm face in front of this Shiro. Did he live in that little farm, or was it just a hiding place? Lance and Hunk seemed to know him, so was he a student? No, no, that was not it. Lance had said something about this Keith ‘washing out’.

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro sighs] I wish I could tell you. My head's still pretty scrambled. I was on an alien ship, but somehow I escaped. It's all a blur. (He turns to face Keith.) How did you know to come save me when I crashed?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] You should come see this.**

 

**(Inside the farmhouse, Shiro and the others look on as Keith pulls a sheet from a trope cord (?) with a map, photos, and diagrams on it.**

 

Veronica and Lance’s mother immediately released an exclamation that made the episode abruptly pause. “Keith?” Maresa hesitantly asked, “have you been living there?”

“Yeah,” he answered after a confused look under Mel’s smirk, “ever since I was kicked out. Why?”

Before Keith Kogane could even comprehend what was happening around him under everyone’s gleeful faces, Maresa, Veronica, and Alea, all launched themselves at him. The poor boy could only look around cluelessly as the women gave him tearful hugs and babbled words about ‘precious child’ and ‘I’m your mom now’ (<\- Veronica) and smothered him in surprising kisses. Allura and Coran looked on with slight confusion, but they had the same fondness Hunk and Shiro’s faces carried. Mel just smile victoriously as Lance and Pidge tried to contain their laughter after they were knocked off the couch. Nevertheless, they were both obviously happy for their teammate.

 **  
** **[Shiro] What have you been working on?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] I can't explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kind of lost and found myself drawn out to this place. It's like something... some energy, was telling me to search.**

 

The females in the room cooed and giggle a little at both screen-Keith and real-Keith who looked like a confused kitten. “Space Kitty,” Lance suddenly piped up and Pidge cackled in delight.

Jesus, accompanying the look Keith sent both their ways as Mel laughed behind her hand, they could all imagine kitty ears pinning back against his head in annoyance. This only resulted in more laughter.

 **  
** **[Shiro] For what?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Well, I didn't really know at the time... until I stumbled across this area. (He places two fingers on a big circle on the map, right beside a smaller one that says ‘ENERGY SOURCE!’) It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night. (He looks at Shiro.) Then you showed up.**

 

“How does that even work?”

“Marco, the person who did those carvings just used a told and scratched them in the walls.”

“That’s not what I meant, Lance!”

“The answer to anything else you ask of me will be ‘Space Magic’.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro turns to face the trio consisting of Lance, Hunk, and Pidge] I should thank you all for getting me out. (He walks a few steps and extends his right hand to Lance.) Lance, right?**

 

 **(Lance hesitates before having a small smile on his face and shaking Shiro’s robotic hand.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge motions at the teenage boy besides him] The nervous guy's Hunk. (He takes Shiro’s robotic arm in a shake.) I'm Pidge. (He let’s go, smile falling.) So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?**

 

“Oh, Pidge…” Allura started and then trailed off.

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for us? Like - where are they at this very moment?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro sighs] I can't really put it together. I remember the word "Voltron." It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Well, last night, I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff, and I found this picture. Look, it's his girlfriend. (chuckles)**

 

An awkward silence it would have been if the episode had paused.

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge snatches the picture out of hunk’s hand] Hey, give me that! What were you doing in my stuff?** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I - well, I was looking for a candy bar. But, then, I started reading his diary.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge snatches the personal item out of Hunk’s hand again] What?!**

 

“Hunk,” Julian gently scolded his son, “you know not to go through other people’s things without permission.”

“... at least something good came out of it?” was Hunk’s simple reply as he smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] And I noticed the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Frown... who?** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only, this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron. And I think can build a machine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hunk, you big, gassy genius!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] It's pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Give me that!**

 

“Rude,” Pidge and Veronica huff out.

 

**(Keith grabs the piece of paper and lines the wave from on the chart and lines it with a photo, showing the same landscape.)**

 

**Scene: In the mountainous terrain shown in the photo, Shiro, Lance, and Keith look on as Hunk and Pidge scan their surroundings with an emission detector.**

**  
** **[Lance] Okay, I admit it. This is super freaky.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I'm getting a reading. (Hunk furrows his brows as he looks at the handheld device.)**

**(The others follow him as he makes his way down a rock path toward the mouth of a cave.)**

**(electronic beeping)** **  
** **  
** **(beeping continues)** **  
** **  
** **(beeping intensifies)**

 ******(Inside the cave, everyone looks around at the hieroglyphics on the cave’s walls and ceiling.)**

 **[Hunk and Pidge] Whoa.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] What are these?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] These are the lion carvings I was telling you about. They're everywhere around here.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance touches one of the hieroglyphics, making them all light up blue] Hmm. Whoa. Whoa!**

 

“What is that?!” Alea practically shrieked out, making some cover their ears and Keith wince pretty violently.

 **  
** **  
** **[All] What?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] They've never done that before.** **  
** **  
** **(A blue circle lights up beneath their feet, the floor then collapsing. They shoot down a rock water slide, falling in a shallow pool in an underground cavern.)**

**[Lance gasps as he looks up at a huge blue lion shaped robot surrounded by a force field made of glowing hexagrams] They are everywhere.**

 

A snicker, then a few laughs here and there. Eventually, the whole room was laughing and Keith’s body seemed to relax under the three woman’s holds. He almost forgot that the whole room was laughing of him. _Almost._

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Is this it? Is this the Voltron?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] It... must be.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] This is what's been causing all of this crazy energy out here. (They make their way towards it.) Looks like there's a force field around it.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Mm.. No.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Yeah. The eyes are totally following me.**

 

People were starting to laugh a little again after they had relaxed from the last round, but were interrupted by Mel. “Of course her eyes are following you! You’re her chosen Paladin, dumbass.”

Lance seemed to muse over the thought as his family members (it was impossible to remember all of their names no matter your will) sent him questioning looks. “I guess you’re right.”

 

 **(Keith and Lance stand in front of the force field. A light flashes in the yellow eyes of the lion as Keith stands in front of it first.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith touches the force field] I wonder how we get through this.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance joins Keith] Maybe you just have to knock. (He knocks twice with a bored expression before he yelps.)**

 

“I can’t believe it.”

“That actually worked?!”

“A knock. Really though, a knock?”

 

 **(The lion’s yellow eyes light up golden. The force field collapses. A wave of energy washes over them.)** **  
** **  
** **(Pidge and Hunk can also be heard yelling as Lance’s eyes widen.)**

**(In the sky, five lion shaped robots trailing streams of coloured light come together to form a gigantic robot holding a flaming sword. Floating in outer space, he slashes the sword creating a flash of flaming light.)**

 

Mel cringed for her hundredth time watching the episode. She didn’t know specifically why, the scene just made her cringe??

 **  
** **[Pidge and Lance] Whoa.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Uh, did everyone just see that?** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Voltron is a robot. Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are.**

 

“The rest of them?” Abran McClain asked his son curiously. Before Lance could answer anything at all, Mel interrupted him:

“NO SPOILERS!!”

Lance crossed his arms before falling back against the sofa with a huff, “I was going to say that.”

“Too late!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] This is what they're looking for.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Incredible.** **  
** **  
** **(The lion lowers its head and Pidge and Hunk scream. A hatch opens from its mouth and a plank drops to the floor in front of Lance. )**

 

The McClain-Valdez family gasped, some stifled but not enough to not be heard. _‘He wouldn’t dare, would he?’_ a few thought. However, the most of them thought _‘Why is the family’s baby so foolish?’._

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hmm. (He chuckles and smirks. He enters the control room and sits down in its chair.) Huh. Hmmf. Mmm... hmm. Here we go. (The chair shoots forward while Lance yelps and a control panel appears and the others enter in turn.) Uh? Huh. (Lance laughs as a light appears on the screen and video footage of outside the lion.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge and Hunk] Whoa.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] All right! Very nice!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, you know, aware. We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now.**

 

“Oh my god,” Pidge exclaimed appropriately with a laugh, “that effect is even more funny than Hunk’s expression or line.”

 **  
** **  
** **(Lance’s eyes widen as the others disappear and the room glows. He can hear deep purring.)**

 

Another cringe from Mel (seriously though, the sound effect just made her react that way and it was only those two specific scenes) and wonder in the eyes of the room’s people.

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Whoa. Did you guys just hear that?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Hear what?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I-I think it's talking to me. Hmm... Um...** **  
** **  
** **(Lance hits a light on the panel. The lion steps forward and lets out a roar.)**

 

Many jump in surprise at the sudden loudness, having gotten used to the Blue Lion’s stillness and quietness. It was, after all, a machine. ... right?

 **  
** **  
** **(Pidge and Hunk scream. Again.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Okay. Got it. (He grabs two navigation things and jams them forward.) Now, let's try this.**

**(The blue lion breaks through the wall of the mountain, does a flip in the air, and jets appear from its paws, slowing its descent to the ground. It springs upward and shoots through the sky.)**

 

A startled shriek escapes many’s lips the moment the blue coloured lion shoots through the stone wall. If it was not a scream, it was a gasp or a widening of eyes or dropping jaw.

 **  
** **  
** **(Pidge and Hunk screaming some more.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] You are - the worst - pilot - ever!**

 

“I’m flattered.”

 **  
** **  
** **(Jet shoots from the behind of the lion and sends them into the air. Screaming continues. Two soldiers watch from the distance.)** **  
** **  
** **Iverson: What in the Sam Hill is that?** **  
** **  
** **[Man] It appears to be a flying blue lion, sir. (He scratches the side of his head.)**

 

They would have laughed -- four paladins minus Keith did and Mel was chuckling along. However, the parents and family members were a little bit too terrified for the children’s lives, you know?

 

 **(The lion lands and runs across the ground. In the control room, Lance grins. A queasy look washes across Hunk’s face.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Isn't this awesome?** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Make it stop. Make it stop.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I'm not making it do anything. It's like it's on autopilot.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Where are you going?**

 

“I just said it’s on autopilot!” was Lance’s exclamation toward the red paladin at the same time as his self on the big screen.

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I just said it's on autopilot! It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] What did it say, exactly?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Well it's not like it's saying words, more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Well if this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just, I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry, lion. Nothing personal.**

 

“Hunk,” many of the young man’s family members gently scolded. Hunk had the decency to look sheepish.

“I was young!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] You don't understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Oh. Never mind then.**

**(The lion shoots forward into space and leaves the orbit. A purple alien ship suddenly appears out of nowhere  and approaches them.)**

**(All gasp.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Uh... Holy crow! Is that really an alien ship?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] They found me.**

 

“For all you know,” Mel answered to the screen-Shiro’s statement while looking at the actual Shiro’s face, “they could have been there to take over the planet.”

A paleness washed over all of the paladins’ faces at the notion of their beloved planet in danger and Mel winced as gasps of horror were heard around the room. Perhaps she shouldn’t have said that…

“Of course,” she hurriedly continued as she tried to fix her mistake, “all of the first season has already happened and is in the past, so there is most likely nothing to worry about.”

No one noticed Iverson’s frowning expression before it went blank once again.

 

**(The vessel starts shooting a barrage of laser at the blue lion.)**

 

‘It’s in the past, it already happened, it’s in the past,’ many parents and families were chanting to themselves as they watched a fricking alien ship shot lasers at the kids (and adult, though most classified him with a child too) like it was a crappy alien television show.

 **  
** **[Pidge] We've got to get it out of here!**

 **[Lance] Hang on! (Lance jerks back the navigation handles.)** **  
** **(all shouting)** **  
**

**(The lion arches upwards, narrowly escaping the purple beams.)**

**[Lance] All right. Okay, I think I know what to do.**

**[Pidge] Be careful, man. This isn't a simulator.**

**[Lance] Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator. (He jams the handles forward. A beam of energy shoots from the lion’s mouth and slices a gash along the hall of the alien vessel.) Let's try this. (The lion dives down toward the alien spaceship and drags its claws along the hall. A gash opens followed by a series of explosion.)**

 

“WHOO!!” Veronica started cheering with Marco right behind her. “THAT’S MY FOOL OF A BROTHER KICKING ALIEN ASS!!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Nice job, Lance.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Okay, I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet.**

 **(Viewpoint changes to purple alien on the alien vessel.)** **  
** **  
** **[Alien] Lord Zarkon, the escaped prisoner and his people found the lion. It attacked us and is heading out of the system.** **  
** **  
** **[Zarkon] Follow that lion and alert all ships in the area to intercept. Capturing that lion is your first and only priority.** **  
** **  
** **[Alien] Yes, Your Majesty. Full power after the lion!**

 

“So, he’s a king?” Luis asked with Abran listening in curiously for his son’s answer.

“Technically, yeah, but he goes by ‘Emperor Zarkon’.”

 

 **(Viewpoint goes back to the lion flying right beside the alien vessel.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Oh, no!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] They're gaining on us.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] It's weird. They're not trying to shoot us. They're just chasing.**

 

“They already had the red lion, so of course they would want the blue one too.” Allura started, not noticing Mel’s look. “The Lions of Voltron are extremely powerful -- quite obviously, as they are the defenders of the universe -- and it makes perfect sense Zarkon would want any Lion he could put his filthy paws on. Also, considering he-”

“I think you should stop there, Allura,” Mel said with a smile but pointed look. “We don’t want to spoil the whole audience. One of the purposes of this is to dig deeper into Zarkon’s weaknesses , which should be easier on a third person’s point of view. That is the explanation I give, of course, I  have my own reasons.”

“Of course,” Allura smiled widely, reaching her eyes, “that is completely understandable.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good? I am not on board with this new direction, guys.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Where are we?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Edge of the solar system. There's Kerberos.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] It takes months for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in five seconds.**

 

“That would most likely be because these lions are obviously built to fight and protect people. The Lion is obviously futuristic in Earth’s terms and made with a much more advanced technology that we have access to. If what the alien princess said about ‘Voltron’ being the defender of the universe and our kids coming back from a delusion is NOT true, then the Lion’s thrusters should be able to travel long distances very quickly.”

Most of the room was filled with agreeing hums and ‘makes sense’ at Colleen’s little analyses.

 **  
** **(A wormhole opens.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] What is that?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Uh, this may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Where does it go?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance suddenly falters] I-I don't know. Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Whatever is happening, the lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together.**

 **(They all nod at Lance.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] All right. Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow.** **  
** **  
** **(The lion enters the wormhole which right then shuts and disappears as the alien vessel approaches.)** **  
** **  
** **(The wormhole opens again as the blue lion exits in orbit of an Earth like planet.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Whoa. That was...** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk grunts and starts vomiting] So sorry.**

 

“Ewwwwww!” everyone in the room went, some even chanting “ew ew ew ew ew” over and over again.

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] I'm just surprised it took this long.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I don't recognize any of these constellations. We must be a long, long way from Earth.**

 

Mel looked over at Shiro, “you guys had just went through a _WORMHOLE_ , why would you still be close to Earth?”

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] The lion seems to want to go to this planet. I think... I think it's going home. (The lion arches downward towards the surface of the planet. A bowl shaped forms in front of it as they enter into the atmosphere. It goes downward through a cloud filled sky. In the control room, the others wince as they huddle around Lance.) Guys, personal space. Hunk, your breath is killing me.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Oh, are you scared?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] With you at the helm? Terrified.**

 

“Gods, I’m happy to notice how your relationship doesn’t change that much in the show,” Mel muttered to herself, only the people at the sofa hearing her. The three women who were suffocating Keith had retreated back to their spots after they noticed stuff was going to happen.

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] All right, knock it off. No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] So, what do we do?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] First, we find out where we're headed. Lance?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I.. don't know. I'm sorry. The lion's not talking to me anymore. Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shh! Listen. I think I hear something. (A high pitched gas-like sound can be heard.)**

 

“Dios,” Abran McClain spoke up with a tired expression, “please tell me you didn’t do that.”

“He did,” Hunk solemnly said with a single nod of head. The McClain-Valdez family groaned in unison as Lance supported an innocent image.

 **  
** **  
** **[Keith] I'm hearing it, too.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] It's, uh - It's kind of a - a high-pitched squeal?** **  
** **  
** **(All groan as Lance smirks) Come on, Lance!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] But seriously, there's a castle up ahead.**

 

Mel snorted slightly, “the way you say that so casually is my life.”

 **  
** **  
** **[All] Wow.**

**(A white castle with five triangular spires sits atop a cliff above an ocean. The lion’s eyes light up as it approaches. Aqua lights flash on the top of each of the spires. The lion lands in front of the entrance of the middle spire.)**

 

The parents looked on in unhidden interest, was this where their children resided during their time in outer space? It looked fairly modern, even more so than some Earth buildings and constructions. The force field that the futuristic lion was able to go through might have been a protective system, unless it was just the castle’s reaction to the lion.

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Keep your guard up.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Something wrong?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] My crew was captured by aliens once. I'm not going to let it happen again.** **  
** **  
** **(They leave the lion through its mouth. All gasp as the lion suddenly moves and lets out as massive roar.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] No, no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!**

 **(The massive door opens.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk whimpers] Oh, the door is open. (Hunk turns and smiles at the lion.) Guess I was wrong about you. (They make their way inside a circular room before a set of stairs.) Hello? (voice echoing)**

**(The others turn and glare at Hunk, at which he only shrugs innocently.)**

 

Little giggles spread around the room.

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] From the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger.** **  
** **  
** **(All gasp because a beam shines down upon them from above.)** **  
** **  
** **[Computer] Hold for identity scan.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] What? (Aqua lighted scans engulf their bodies.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Why are we here? What do you want with us?**

 

I doubt the identity scan would have been able to answer you, Shiro,” Allura spoke up with a little giggle hidden behind her hand.

 

 **(The room lights up. A series of lights illuminate a corridor on top of the stairs.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Whoa!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Whoa.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] I guess we're going that way.**

 **(They make their way down the corridor.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Hello? (voice echoing)**

 **(They make their way down a winding stairwell and enter another circular room.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Hello?**

 

“Where are you going?”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Hello?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Where are we?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] It's.. some kind of control room. (gasps)**

 **(Two pods rise up from a nearby platform. The silhouettes of two humanoid figures appear inside.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Are these guys... dead?**

 **(The glass around one the pods dematerialises. A white haired woman with pointy ears steps out.)** **  
** **  
** **[Alien woman gasps] Father! (She trips and falls into Lance’s arms and looks into his eyes. He blushes.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hello.** **  
** **  
** **[Alien woman] Who are you? Where am I?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I'm Lance. And you're right here in my arms.**

 

“Ohhh, so he wasn’t _actually_ trying to flirt with Allura, not on a genuine level at least.” Said boy only glared and turned his gaze back to the screen.

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Your ears.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Yeah?** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] They're hideous. What's wrong with them?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Nothing's wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them! (She grabs his ear and twist him so he has one knee on the floor. He screams.)** **  
** **  
** **[Alien woman] Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?**

 

Veronica nods in approval and leans over to high five the Altean princess. Having seen the other paladins do this action quite a few times, she hesitantly taps her hand against the human girl’s. She didn’t seem very phased by this, “I approve of your course of action, princess.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] A giant blue lion brought us here! That's all we know!** **  
** **  
** **[Alien woman] How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless... How long has it been?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.** **  
** **  
** **[Ali-- Allura] I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep. (She lays her hands on a control panel.)**

 

“Nice meeting you, princess Allura,” a few voices echoed in the room, not having know the alien woman’s name until that specific moment.

“The pleasure is all mine, Earthlings!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Okay, that's how that works.**

 **(The glass wound the second pod dematerialised. An alien man with a mustache and pointy ears steps out and lunges at Lance.)** **  
** **  
** **[Mustache] Enemy combatants! (grunts, groans) (screams) Quiznak! You're lucky I have a case of the old "sleep chamber knees." Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this, wrap you up like so - and one, two, three - (snaps fingers) Sleepy time!**

 

“Alien techniques are truly interesting,” Iverson hummed in thought.

“Oh, that is just Coran being a crazy uncle,” Keith practically snarled, “you should see their actual battle techniques and training room.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Well, before you did that, I'd - (Makes ‘combat moves’.) Like that.** **  
** **  
** **[Mustache] Really? How could you do that when I've already come at you with this? (Makes weird moves.) Ha, ha, ha, hey!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Man, these guys are good.**

 

“I have no comments,” Luis spoke up.

 **  
** **  
** **(computer beeping)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] It can't be.** **  
** **  
** **[Mustache] What is it?** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] We've been asleep for 10,000 years.**

 

“Wow!”

“...woah…”

“That is so awesome!”

“Image all the school hours and classes I could skip with THAT!”

“What are you saying? It’s horrifying!”

“You mean you two would be the only two of your race alive?”

“Again, awesome!”

“No you idiot, it is not!”

“Of course it is! It’s like one of those movies where you are the last survivor!”

“But this is fucking real life!”

“We’re watching this on a big screen and it has episodes, right? More like a TV show to me.”

“But this is the past, meaning it already happened!!”

“...Oh.”

“Yes. ‘oh’ is the appropriate reaction you dumbass!”

After the conversations and loud chatter around the room settles down to mere whispers, the screen started moving once again.

 

 **(A flashback starts playing. In the castle command center, Allura, Mustache, and a White Beard look up at a viewscreen.)** **  
** **  
** **[White Beard] Zarkon.** **  
** **  
** **[Zarkon] Your fleet has been destroyed, Alfor. I will be there shortly to claim Voltron.** **  
** **  
** **(Zarkon’s ship fires a laser. The light burns out the viewscreen.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Father, we must form Voltron and fight before it's too late!** **  
** **  
** **[King Alfor] It's already too late. We must send the lions away. We can't risk them falling into Zarkon's hands.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] We can't give up hope!** **  
** **  
** **[King Alfor] I'm sorry, daughter. If all goes well, I will see you again soon.(King Alfor’s hand flashes.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Father!** **  
** **  
** **[King Alfor] I love you.**

 

No one dared say a single word as the alien princess’s body started shaking lightly and her pink marking started to glow in grief and pure sadness. Coran put a hand on shoulder as Shiro’s left and biological arm wrapped around her and rubbed circles on her upper arm. She had been so strong for the last few days? weeks? months?, putting up a strong facade to get the mission rolling. She barely had any time at all to mourn, immediately having been thrown into the war as a diplomat and leader.

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization... Zarkon.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro gasps] Zarkon?** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I remember now... I was his prisoner.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] He's still alive? Impossible!**

 

As a few took a breath in to ask a question, Mel put a hand up, halting the words from escaping their tongue. “Space Magic and quintessence, let’s just stick to that.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does.** **  
  
**

 

**Scene: In a chamber filled with purple glowing crystals, a female Galra in a hood kneels and her eyes flash. On a bridge of the Galra ship, she approaches Zarkon.**

 

“I feel like she’s going to be important,” Tepora pointed out.

“I do too,” Alea frantically said as her head quickly bobbed up and down. “Is she going to be? What did she just do? Is she going to hurt them? Oh my gods, is she going to hurt my Hunk? IS SHE GOING TO HURT BY BABY AND HIS FRIENDS?!?!”

 **  
** **[Hood] Ah... The Blue Lion has returned, and now I feel a resurgence of Altean energy.** **  
** **  
** **[Zarkon] Alfor's daughter lives? How?** **  
** **  
** **[Hood] I know not, but it is time to reclaim what is rightfully ours.** **  
** **  
** **[Zarkon] Yes. I shall wipe that foul race from the universe forever and take back Voltron. Contact my commanders.**

 

**Scene: On the bridge of another Galra ship, a large pointy eared alien raises a flashing robotic arm and clenches his fist.**

 

A simultaneous shiver went over the whole room.

 **  
** **  
** **[Galran voice] Emperor Zarkon requests an audience.** **  
** **  
[Zarkon on a view screen] Commander Sendak, the Princess of Altea is alive and hiding in your sector. We believe she alone holds the whereabouts of the remaining lions. Your battle fleet is the closest to her location. Retrieve her and the lions. With them all, the Galra Empire will be unstoppable.  
** **  
** **[Sendak] I fight for the empire. I conquer in the name of Galra. No foe has ever stood in my way and none ever will. Vrepit sa! Set a course for Arus.**

 

No one spoke, no one moved, they were set in too deep into the story.

 **Scene: The castle.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] I'm not hungry.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Man, 10,000 years? That's like one thousand plus ten.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] That's.. times ten.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Whatever, dropout.**

 

“You could of had at least tried to sound more intelligent than that, Lance.”

“I know, dad, but you see, I sorta became the pilot of a magical blue lion and was hurled into space where I went into a futuristic castle and met a gorgeous alien princess. How could I know their calculations of time?”

“...Point made, but you could have done better, knowing you.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Hmm, good point.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago. It must have been an incredible place.**

 

“Understandable,” Coran nodded, “Earth is one of the planets the universe considers primitive, not even having gotten a grasp at what quintessence is or travelled further than their own solar system.”

Iverson bristled in his seat, not liking the indirect insult as the Galaxy Garrison was in charge of anything space related.

 **  
** **  
** **(Hunk groans)** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Yes, it was... but now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive.** **  
** **  
** **(Coran approaches Allura, who throws her arms around him. Allura is sobbing softly.)** **  
** **  
** **(Allura’s ear twitches; squeaking is heard. She approaches a group of mice, one of them smiling and waving at her.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura gasps] Looks like we're not the last, after all.** **  
** **  
** **(mice squeaking)** **  
** **  
** **(A control panel flashing red; alarm blaring)** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!**

 

“What are you going to do?” Lance’s mother curiously asked.

Mel wagged her pointing finger and said in a sing song voice, “spoilers~”

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] How did they find us?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I'm not sure, but I bet it's Keith's fault.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better. After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I'll stick you in a wormhole!**

 

A moment of silence to mourn Lance’s death and then Pidge was cackling with laughter, the rest of the room soon following. All Keith could do was blush at the implications as Lance sunk low in his spot, wrapping his arms around his legs and hiding his scarlet face in his knees.

“How,” Pidge managed to get out in between her explosive laughs, “did… we… forget…. THAT!? HAHAHAHAHA KLANCE WILL HAPPEN AT SOME POINT OR ANOTHER JUST WATCH HAHA!!”

 

 **  
** **[Shiro] Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame. It's time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] At their speed? Oh, well, carry the two... I'd say probably a couple of days.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Good. Let them come! By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk burps] Sorry. Food goo. (stomach rumbles) (groans)**

 

As the laughter died down and Keith and Lance were shoved together by Mel, Hunk, and Pidge, a certain amount of seriousness filled the air as Shiro’s expression came into view on the screen.

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Princess, there are five of these lions. How are we going to find the rest?** **  
** **  
(In the command centre, the others look on as Allura stands beneath a crystal arch. Light shines down on her.)  
** **  
** **[Coran] King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the lions' whereabouts.**

 

“That should have been so much more difficult!” Colleen gasped out with a hand coming up to her mouth temporarily. “The alchemy needed for such feet is extremely hard to accomplish, not even thinking of the the concentrated forms of quintessence needed for so. If the five lions match my educated guess of having different quintessence cores. These five children’s quintessence no doubts match the lions, in which they have one and only one colour in their bodies. Intelligent living beings should have a mix of different affinities even if us humans are unable to perfectly understand and use them. Even so, no normal one should have more than three or four of these quintessence bases in their soul or they would go haywire! The fact that the five Lions’ cores were able to be attached to one living being is simply impossible!”

“How were you able to get all of that?!” Pidge exclaimed.

“Surprisingly for as far as your planet’s knowledge on quintessence reaches-”

“More than surprisingly! We just have a basic definition used in sci-fi books!”

“-you, of course, do not know of pink quintessence,” Allura said. “Altean’s markings are the colour of the quintessence strongest in our soul, for this reason Coran’s being blue. Only few, special people who have a single coloured quintessence are able to navigate the best and unlock their abilities. As quintents and cycles passed, the Lions became more and more sentient. They the ability to perceive and have emotions, think on their own, move like living animals after they have bonded move with their paladins, and more. With this, their cores absorbed their paladins’ quintessence and, to some level, made it their own.

“Considering that the lions evolved in their own and that the paladins were only chosen as a best match, not all of the paladins had a quintessence of pure energy. My father, as an example, had a strong affinity for the Blue Lion, but Blaytz had a stronger one still. I believe he had pure blue quintessence in him, which is why he was better with his Lion than any other of the Paladins.

“I believe I am getting a little side tracked, but this does lead to why my life force could be connected to the Lions’. You see, people of pink quintessence have features of every single five of them in their spirit. Most do, however, have a penchant for a specific one, but they nonetheless have them all. People of pink quintessence tend to become diplomats, able to take many approaches in different situations. By having the pink markings and quintessence, even if my training was not focused on it, my father was able to tie all of the Lions to be. Does this make sense, to some level? My knowledge isn’t very advanced.”

“Yes, thank you,” Colleen nodded with a smile as Pidge sputtered, her head still full and coming up with questions. A little silence engulfed the room as everyone tried to process and store the information for later.

 

 **(The command center fills with stars.)** **  
** **  
** **[All] Whoa!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] These are coordinates. The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Very observant. That's because the Black Lion is in the castle.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other four lions are present.**

 

“Makes sense.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain. The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion. The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion -** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?**

 

“You know, Lance,” Mel started in a lower voice (which she considered her normal tone but knew very well that would not be true at times) so only the people on the couch could hear her, “you should have let Allura continue and shove down your insecurities. Now, not even I know what the Blue Lion’s personality is, just theories and educated guesses.”

“Good,” Lance mutured to himself. He hadn’t seem to have noticed that the whole Voltron Team and herself had heard.

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] ...The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together.** **  
** **  
** **(Hunk grunts questioningly)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] What? This guy?** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it might need some work.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Don't worry, we'll find it soon. They don't call me "The Coranic" for nothing. It's because it sounds like "mechanic." So... Coranic, mechanic. It's not - It doesn't sound... exactly like it. It's similar.**

 

A few chuckled filled the room, everyone seeing how Coran resembled Lance quintessence-wise.

 **  
** **  
** **(Mini Red Lion roars)**

 **(Images of the lions appear before them. They come together in a flash of light.)** **  
** **  
** **(Lance gasps)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe. (Voltron appears then disappears.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Awesome!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Oh...** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?**

 

“Not the time, Hunk,” Tepora gently scolded her son.

“But I had to pee! It’s basic human needs!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one. Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it.** **  
** **  
[Allura] In the meantime, I'll get this castle's defences ready. They'll be sorely needed.  
** **  
** **[Coran] I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion.**

 

 **(The Blue Lion and a space pod leave the castle, shoot in the air then leave orbit. In the command centre with two pedestals with sensors on top of each rise up on both sides of Allura. She lays her hands on them and they light up.)  
** **  
** **[Coran] We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work. The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Well, enjoy the trip!** **  
** **  
** **(all protesting)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Wait! What? No!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I did not receive the memo on this.**

 

**(The lion and the space pod both enter a separate wormhole.)**

 

 **Scene: The space pod leaves its wormhole in orbit around a green planet. On the surface, Pidge and Shiro make their way through a jungle. Pidge scans their surrounding with a handheld device. They come to a river. A canoe with a lion shaped prow sits on the bank.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Look!** **  
** **  
** **(A sloth like creature appears before them. Shiro and Pidge gasp, yell)**

 

Startled yelps filled the room while others laughed at the screen.

 **  
** **  
** **(sloth alien moans)** **  
** **  
** **(electronic beeping)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge: It's just a... whatever that thing is.** **  
  
**

**(It approaches the canoe, and gestures for them to follow.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] I... I think he wants us to get in his canoe.**

 

“No shit,” Lance snorted.

“You would have been worse, Lance, so shut your mouth.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Then I guess we should go.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge looks at him with an eyebrow lifted] Huh.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro smiles] I've been locked up by aliens for a year. This is nothing.** **  
** **  
** **(On the river, the sloth like creature paddles them along. On the bank, smiling three eyed six legged rabbit-like creatures watch them. Pidge smiles back at them.)**

**(They float into a cave with a circular hieroglyphic of a lion over the entrance.)**

**  
** **[Pidge] I wonder if Hunk and Lance are having as good a time as us.**

 

“No, no we were not, Pidge,” Hunk shaked his head, “and I would appreciate a lack of comments.”

“I can promise to try?”

“... Good enough.” ****

**Scene: In the sky above an alien planet the blue lion spins in the air, chased by two airplane-like space fighters. Lance and Hunk are screaming once more.)**

 

Pidge couldn’t help it, she burst into laughter along with many others.

 **  
** **Hunk: Oh, no! No, no, no! Oh! Oh, no!** **  
** **  
** **(screaming continues)** **  
** **  
** **(In the cockpit of one of the space fighters, an alien drone operates a tracking device. A triangular icon appears before him. The two fighters launch missiles. The Blue Lion rolls and dodges two of them then sustains a direct hit and then plummets towards the ground.)**

 

Honestly though? With the knowledge that the two were going to be fine as this was in the past, all anyone could really do is laugh and watch in amusement.

 **  
** **(Hunk and Lance screaming)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Maybe "peaceful" means something else in Altean! (grunts)**

 

“No, I do not believe that is truth,” was Coran’s statement with amusement.

 

 **(The lion activates the rocket boosters on its paws, slows its descent as it nears the ground then arches back upwards. The space fighters pursue them as they keep shooting. From the ground, drones are firing up at the Blue Lion.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk groans and raises a handheld device] According to the coordinates, we're right on top of the Yellow Lion. It's below there, where they're mining for the ore. They don't even know the lion is there. Or maybe they just got here and they're digging for the lion? What do you think, Lance?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Who cares? Just go get it! I'm dropping you down there.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Me? Down there? No. No, no, no.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Yes, I'll cover you!**

 

 **(The lion lands in an open pit mine and runs toward an opening in the rock wall.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] No, what if the Yellow Lion doesn't work? What - what if I - what if I can't get in the mine? What if I start crying? It’s too late, I'm already crying!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Sorry, no time for questions. (He touches an icon on the control panel. Hunk falls out of a hatch from the lion’s mouth then goes tumbling onto the ground.)**

 

Another wave of laughter came over the room, even Hunk himself laughing.

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] (He steps into the cave, steps on a platform, and opens a control panel.) Oh yeah, sure, just drop me off in an alien planet. That's cool, man. It's only occupied by mean purple aliens that want to kill me, but whatever. Just ignore them and go connect with a big, yellow, mechanical cat. Easy-peasy. Yeah. That all makes a ton of sense to me.**

 

“Oh my fucking god, Hunk!” Pidge laughed in delight, not even noticing her mom and Shiro’s disapproving looks. “I didn’t know you were capable of being so salty and sarcastic!”

 

 **(Machine starts whirring as he touches two loose cords together. They spark. On the cavern’s ceiling, yellow hieroglyphics appear.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Cool. (He enters an underground cavern, runs down a set of stairs, and stops before a wall.) Okay, I'm in a giant hole. Now what, Hunk? Huh? (Hieroglyphics light up on the cavern floor then a circular one appears on the wall.) Whoa. Pretty. How am I going to get through that? Hmm? Hmm...** **  
**

**(He turns to a mining drill.)**

 

“Question,” Abran spoke up, “why is everything so convenient?”

Lance shrugged at his father, “fate and space magic?”

 

**(Outside, the Blue Lion guards the cave entrance. The alien fighters bombard the lion with lasers. In the control room, Lance slams slams the navigation handles forward. The lion shoots up into the sky towards the fighters.)**

 

**(In the cavern, Hunk burrows through the wall with the drill. He enters another cavern and looks up at the huge yellow robot lion surrounded by a force field.)**

 

**(Outside, the blue lion grabs one of the fighters with its teeth and crushes it. Three fighters shoot past him and approach the cave entrance.)**

**  
** **[Lance] Oh, no! (grunts) (They bombard the cave with lasers. As the Blue Lion destroys the fighters, one launches a missile that shoots into the entrance and explodes, collapsing the cave.) Hunk!**

 

“MY BABY!!”

“Calm down love, you know this already happened,” was Tepora’s response. By the frown and clench of her jaw though, you could tell she didn’t like it either.

 

 **Scene: In the canoe on the river, Pidge, Shiro, and the sloth-like creature.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] I know the Princess said this is supposed to be my lion, but what if she's wrong? I mean, she's probably not wrong. She's a princess, but I'm not a pilot, even though I've always wanted to be a pilot. I mean I read all the fighter manuals, but I never got to fly the simulator. But hey, I can't be that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time. But what if I get in there and it doesn't respond? What if I get in there and it's too big and my feet don't touch the pedals? What if there aren't even pedals?!**

 

Hunk clamped his hand on his mouth in order to hide his smile and hold in his laughter. From the perfectly sized spot of Shiro’s crossed legs, she sighed.

“Go ahead, I deserve it with my own teasing, you can laugh.”

Hunk didn’t need to be told twice.

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] You're rambling. Listen... Our commander on the Kerberos Mission is the smartest man I ever met, and he always said, "If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great." (Pidge smiles.)** **  
** **  
** **(Pidge gasps)** **  
  
**

**(The river ends at the foot of a pyramid, covered in thick roots. The canoe comes to shore. The sloth-like creature waves as Pidge and Shiro step onto the bank and make their way towards the pyramid.)**

 

 **(Hieroglyphics light up green on the ground as they approach. They stop before a set of stairs at the side of the pyramid.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Go. Be great. (Pidge smiles at Shiro then turns and runs up the stairs to the tangle of roots at the top.)**

 

“Loving the instrumental music, really sets the mood.”

Mel nodded frantically, “agreed, I have it saved in many of my playlists.”

 

 **(Pidge climbs over the roots then kneels and gasps for air.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Uh? (He rises and looks around then glances down into the tangle of roots below. A pair of eyes light up. With a grin, he leaps down into a gap in the roots.)** **  
** **  
** **Pidge: Uh? Hup! Whoo-hoo-hoo!** **  
** **  
** **(Green Lion roaring)** **  
** **  
** **(On the ground below, Shiro grunts then turns and watches as the Green Lion burst up out of the pyramid, tearing away the roots from around its body.)**

 

“WHOOO!!” many cheered and clapped in happiness, having gotten slightly over the fact that magical space cats actually existed.

 **Scene: In the air above the now collapsed cavern, three space fighters fire lasers at the Blue Lion.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hunk, come on! Please, buddy! (He screams as the lion is hit by a pair of lasers and falls to the ground.) Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Going down! We're going down! (grunts)** **  
** **  
** **(The Blue Lion tumbles upon the rocky ground then struggles to rise up to its feet, electricity crackling around it.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Oh, no.**

 **(The fighters approach and fire missiles towards the Blue Lion.)** **  
** **  
** **(The Yellow Lion bursts out of the cave and throws itself in front of the incoming missiles. It launches itself into the air and comes crashing down onto the fighters, destroying them.)**

 

“God did I love doing that under my anxiety.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] You okay, Lance?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hunk! I thought you were dead! You jumped in front of all those shots to save my life!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk appears on Lance’s viewscreen] Well, actually, I was trying to get out of the way. Thankfully, what this lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in armor. Man, can it take a beating! (Fighters approach.) Ooh. We've got incoming!** **  
** **  
** **[Allura appears on Lance’s viewscreen] Paladins, please hurry back. I can't hold the wormhole much longer. (The image disappears.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Let's get out of here!**

 **(The two lions launch upward into the sky. A laser hits the Yellow Lion, sending it into a spin.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Not this again. (He covers his mouth.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Quit screwing around, Hunk! The wormhole is closing!** **  
** **  
** **(The wormhole closes as they pass through it.)** **  
** **  
** **(In the castle, Hunk and Lance groaning join the others in the command center atop one of the spires.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] You made it.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Think how I felt. I am Hunk!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Yeah. We had a tough time, too. (He grins.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Did we find the Red Lion yet?** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad news. (He tugs at one side of his mustache.) The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby. (He crosses his arms.) The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!**

 

“WHAT?!”

“How the hell is that good news?!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] They're here already?** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting is - it's more of an art than a science. Hmm?**

 

“Sure,” Keith drawled out, “an art.”

 **  
**  
**[Sendak appears on the view screen] Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet. (He disappears from the view screen.)**  
**  
** **[Shiro] All right, let's not panic.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Not panic? Th-The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four lions.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Technically, only three working lions.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working lions and a castle that's, like, 10,000 years old.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather -** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate.**

 

“Wait, you only JUST remembered that?!”

“You see, Earthling, I was quite busy holding open two wormholes at the same time.”

“Oh.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Girl, you've already activated my par-** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Lance!**

 

Said boy received many slaps to the back of his head and back, much to his dismay.

 **  
** **  
** **[Coran] The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last.**

 

“”Must have”?” Luis questioned with a raised eyebrow. “With 10,000 years passing since Altea was destroyed and how quickly your technologies develop, of course theirs is more advanced!”

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Panic now?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I second that. Yes. I mean, we tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake. Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Then, it's settled. Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] We can't just abandon Arus. The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them.**

 

“Courageous and adorable little Pidge is my favourite,” Mel stated.

 **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we (hisses) out of here.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Here's an option: shut your quiznak.**

 

Many laugh at Allura and Coran’s expressions in the background at the curse. Maresa starts lightly reprimanding her son and Abran had to bite back his smile. Not that his wife didn’t notice since she glared at him as she continued speaking.

 **  
** **  
** **[Keith] I don't think you're using that word correctly.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] What do you know, Mullet?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith: We're staying.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance: Leaving!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Staying!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Snake!** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Guys, stop! Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] I... I don't know.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Perhaps your father can help.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] My father?**

 **  
** **  
** **(Door opening for Coran and Allura to enter a chamber.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Coran, what is this?** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] King Alfor knew there was a chance he might never see you again. So, his memories, his very being, were stored in this computer for you.**

 

“THAT IS SO COOL!!”

 

 **(Allura steps onto a platform. A ball of energy rises up from it. The chamber transforms into a flower filled meadow. She gazes at her surroundings, then turns to the platform as King Alfor materialises on it.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura gasps] Father! Father, it is so good to see you.** **  
** **  
** **[King Alfor] Allura, my only child, how I've missed your face.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] I'm so frightened. A Galra ship is set to attack, and I don't know what to do. Please, Father, I need your help.** **  
** **  
** **[King Alfor] I would do anything to take this burden from you.**

 

“This is weirdly creepy,” Marco shivered.

“Dios, don’t remind me,” Lance shivered in return but didn’t say anything else under Mel’s pointed but light glare.

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] I don't know if we should run to preserve what we have or stay and risk everything. I want to fight, but the paladins of old are gone. I know what you would do.** **  
** **  
** **[King Alfor] I scattered the Lions of Voltron to keep them out of Zarkon's hands. You urged me to keep them and fight, but for the greater good of protecting the universe, I chose to hide them.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] I think I understand.** **  
** **  
** **[King Alfor] No, daughter, you were right. I made a terrible mistake, one that cost the universe countless lives. Forming Voltron is the only way to stop Zarkon. You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the lions and correct my error.**

 

 **(She rejoins the others, now out of her dress and in uniform and long hair in a thick bun.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] You five paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] We're with you, Princess.**

 

 **(In a chamber, five pods containing armours appear.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Your suits of armor.**

 **(Suits of white body armour with helmet rimmed with each of the lions’ colours.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Cool!** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Outstanding.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Nice.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Oh, neat!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk compares his bulky body to the narrow suit] Hmm... Mmm... hmm.**

 

A giggle floated around the room.

 **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Princess, are you sure about this? They aren't exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] No, but they're all we've got.**

 

Allura shook her head, “heavens, I had forgotten about how the quintessence worked with the Lions’ Paladins.”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Boys, it's time to suit up!**

**(Lance puts on the blue rimmed suit, Pidge the green one, Keith the red suit, Shiro the black suit, and Hunk the yellow suit.)**

**(Allura places her right hand on a panel. Four crescent shaped hand weapons appear.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each paladin.** **  
** **  
** **(A yellow bayard floats towards Hunk. As he grabs it, it turns into a heavy laser cannon.)** **  
** **  
** **(Keith gasps as his bayard turns into and shield.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance’s turns into a laser rifle and he laughs] Whoo!** **  
** **  
** **(Pidge’s bayard retains its shape but now has glowing green laser blades at the end of it.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Aw, you got a cute little bayard. (Pidge zaps Lance, making him scream and fall.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Yeah, it is pretty cute.**

 

Mel sighed, “I want one of those so badly, if not Pidge’s then just a bayard.” Hums of agreement came after her statement. _Maybe I could write myself one? Wings and a bayard, hmmm?_

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Shiro, I'm afraid your bayard was lost with its paladin.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I guess I'll just have to make do.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Well it's not a matter of "we." It's a matter of "you."** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and like track it down.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Yeah. You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Yeah. You made fun of me for that.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] And I'm proud of that, but turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo.**

 

Mel leaned behind all of the Paladins to reach Pidge, an easier feat with Keith and Lance squished together. She motioned for Veronica with her hand who also leaned over. Not able to think of a way to make sure Shiro doesn’t hear, she just goes with it and hope he’s too engrossed and that his obliviousness comes in action.

“You two girls with me to help Klance along?” she whispered.

“Yes!” both Pidge and Veronica whisper yelled.

 **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect.** **  
**

**(Keith nods. Shiro places his non-robotic hand on Keith’s shoulder, making the boy turn from Allura and face him.)**

**  
** **[Shiro] All right. Here's our plan of attack.**

 

 **Scene: Sendak’s ship in space, the Blue and Yellow Lions flying towards it.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don't know we have the Green Lion, too. (Viewpoint changes to Zendak’s viewscreen.) Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance from screen] Attention, Galra ship. Do not fire. We're surrendering our lions. (View changes to inside Hunk and Lance’s lions.) Hope this works.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. (Pidge makes a hole into the hall with his bayard.) Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit. Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Pidge, what's your ETA?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] We're in.**

 **  
** **  
** **[Sendak on the bridge] Activate tractor beam.**

 

 **(A hatch opens. A light brightens inside.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] What's that thing?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] I think that's our signal to get out of here!**

 **(The blue and yellow lions veer out of the way as the tractor beam activates.)** **  
** **  
** **[Sendak] They lied to us. Launch fighters!**

 

“Did he seriously think that you weren’t going to dodge that, thinking it was a laser or something?” Marco asked.

 

 **(Space fighters emerge from a tunnel in the ship.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hunk, you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Ten-four!**

**(The Yellow Lion swoops towards the ship as the Blue Lion dodges laser fires from the fighter planes.)**

 

**(Inside the ship, Shiro, Pidge, and Keith make their way down a corridor. Shiro pauses and furrows his brows.)**

 

 **(A flashback. A body armoured robot drone holding a laser rifle. A view of an illuminated ceiling. Drones bent and gazing downward. A pair of purple glowing eyes.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro groans and starts panting] I've been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] So, that means your other crew members, they might be held captive here. We... We've got to rescue them.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus.**

 

“You’re going to just leave prisoners there??” Luis questioned with a raised eyebrow. No one who could possibly know what was going to happen said a word, so he leaned back in his seat when only silence greeted his question.

 **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] But we can't just leave prisoners here!** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] No! Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos Mission with you.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Commander Holt is your father?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Yes. I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I'm not going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I'm coming with you.**

 

“The way he changed his mind so quickly is worrying though,” someone in the room said. A few agreed, while others didn’t say anything.

 **  
** **  
** **[Keith] What?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith, you go find the Red Lion.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] By myself?**

 

“It’s a you thing, remember?” Lance questioned with a raised eyebrow. Keith only blushed and mumbled something. Being pressed together so closely allowed him to hear what the boy said.

“I was nervous and didn’t want to be alone.”

For once, Lance didn’t feel the need to tease the boy with a mullet.

Mel thought to herself for a second. Of course, she was the one making sure all of this happened while writing, so technically, she was the one making Klance canon even though it never happened in the original show. She glanced quickly at the other two short girls, both’s gaze always landing on the two boys more times than worth counting.

Well, who was she to deprive her readers and Pidge and Veronica of their fun? (Hers included.)

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Minor change of plans. You'll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus. (doors open) So - Run!** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Great. Now, which way? (Keith stands before a glowing purple x-like symbol on a wall. A drone approaches. He runs towards the right.)**

 

 **(Outside, Hunk sends the Yellow Lion hurtling towards the ship. It bounces off a force field.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] What the quiznak? What is that? A force field?**

 

“Not good, not good at all.”

 

 **(The castle.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Particle barrier up!**

 **(A dome shaped barrier surrounds the castle then dematerialises.)** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Is that what's supposed to happen? (Inside a control console.) All the barrier crystals are out of alignment.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] We have to fix it immediately. Without the particle barrier, we'll be defenseless.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] We're both too big. What can we do?** **  
** **  
** **(mice squeaking)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] The mice!** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] How do they know how to do this?** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] I can hear them talking to me. I think our minds are connected. It must be from sharing the sleep pod for 10,000 years.** **  
** **  
** **(the mice crawl into the console and reposition the crystals. The mice squeaking triumphantly.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Thank you, friends.**

 

A collective ‘AWW’ washed across the room.

 **  
** **  
** **(Coran grunting, straining)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Coran, what are you doing?** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] I'm trying to get them to make me a sandwich.**

 

Collectively once again, the room started laughing.

 

 **(In Sendak’s ship, Keith darts down a corridor. He ends up back at the x-shaped symbol.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith groans] You've got to be kidding me! (breathes heavily) Patience yields focus. (He closes his eyes. The Red Lion appears to him.) Gotcha.**

 

 **(Elsewhere in the corridors, a floating pyramid-shaped object approaches Shiro and Pidge. It scans them.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Huh? (He shoots it.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] That thing saw us. We should get out of here.** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Wait. I think this might come in handy. Now, I'll just reset the controls... and it's working for us. I'm going to call you "Rover." Follow me! (They approach a hatch. Pidge turns to Rover.) Open up.**

 **(Rover directs a beam at the door.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro chuckles] Excellent, Pidge.** **  
** **  
** **(The door opens. Inside are various aliens.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Dad?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Don't be afraid. We're here to help you escape.** **  
** **  
** **[Galra Prisoner] It's you... It's you, the Champion. If anyone can get us out of here, he can.**

 

“What does it mean?”

“Champion? Why is the alien calling him a champion?”

“Champion of what?”

“Does this have to do with his arm?”

 **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Wh... What did you call me?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] We don't have much time. Let's get to the escape pods.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Let's go. Come on!**

 

“Awe, Pidgeon,” Lance leaned over Hunk to gather Pidge in his arms from Shiro’s lap, hugging her tightly. She actually ended up being half on Keith too. No protest came from the young teen outside of the ‘don’t call me that’.

 

 **(Lance and the Blue Lion.)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Whoa-ho-ho! Yeah, buddy! This is way more fun without Hunk's barfing!** **  
** **  
** **(The Yellow Lion bounces off the force field.)**

 

 **(In a vast chamber, Keith approaches the Red Lion behind a force field.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Bingo. (He places his hand on the force field.) Let's get out of here. Open up. It's me. Keith. Your buddy. (The lion does not move.) It's me! Keith, your - I am your paladin!**

 

Pidge and Lance snort and Keith’s face brightened.

 **  
** **  
** **(Drones fire at him; he raises his shield.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] I'm bonding with you! Hey! Come on! We're connected!**

 

Their giggling doubled in intensity.

 

 **(His bayard appears in his hand and then turns into a sword. He rushes at the drones.)You're not getting this lion!** **  
** **  
** **(Keith drives one drone back with his shield then cuts another’s legs off. A laser blast knocks him onto his back and destroys his shield. He reaches back, hits a button on a control panel, and opens an airlock.)**

 

Everyone who didn’t know what was going to happen gasped in fright.

“Are you CRAZY?!” Lance yelled right in his ear. “YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED!!”

“... at least I got the Red Lion!”

 

 **(The drones vent into space. Keith clings to the control panel. A piece of debris hits him and send him toppling backwards. The Red Lion shoots out of the airlock and swallows him.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith sitting in the control room of the Red Lion with a confident smirk] Good kitty. Let's roll.**

 

 **(In a corridor; Pidge, Shiro, and the prisoners.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Hurry!** **  
** **  
** **[Drone] Halt!** **  
** **  
** **(Pidge gasps as drones come running towards them.)** **  
** **  
** **(Shiro raises his robotic arm -- it lights up. He winces and groans in pain.)** **  
** **  
** **(sound becomes distorted)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge distorted] Shiro? Shiro, what's wrong?** **  
** **  
** **(sound returns to normal)** **  
** **  
** **(Shiro lunges at the drones. Waves of energy come from his arm as the punches and kicks them. Pidge’s eyes widen. The prisoners leave in a shuttle.)** **  
** **  
** **[Galra Prisoner] Thank you, Shiro.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Wait! How do you...?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Shiro, that was amazing! Where did you learn to fight with that?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] No idea.**

 

“This is important too, I can feel it.”

 

 **(Outside, the Yellow Lion fires at the force field. It begins to destabilise.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Come on, just break, you stupid thing! (The forcefield collapses.) Score one for Hunk! (The Yellow Lion swoops down towards the ion cannon, rams its body into it, and dents it. the Green and Red lions soar overhead.) You guys made it!**

**[Pidge] Kitty Rose has left the stage!**

 

Pidge nods in agreement with herself.

 **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Let's get the heck out of here!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it.** **  
** **  
** **[Galra] They stole the Red Lion!**

 **  
** **  
** **[Sendak] After them! Either we get those lions or we blow this whole planet to cosmic dust! Fire the ion cannon!** **  
** **  
** **[Galra] Sir, the ion cannon has been damaged.** **  
** **  
** **[Sendak] Then send the drones to fix it!**

 

**Scene: In the castle, the Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow lions sit before a massive door at the top of a set of stairs. Shiro stands at the foot of the stairs and looks up at the door.**

 

 **(The eyes of the lions light up. In the castle’s command centre, Allura stands before a hologram. A light connects each of the lions to the black one at the top.)  
** **  
** **(The massive door opens and Shiro looks up at the Black Lion. Its eyes light up and it roars. All the other lions roar in response.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura sighs in relief] Oh...** **  
** **  
** **(Coran cheers)**

 

Everyone in the room started clapping, leaving the youngest of Team Voltron with rosy cheeks and the three adults with proud smile. **  
**  
****

**(In the command centre, the view screen flashes red with an alarm blaring.)**

 

Everyone immediately quiets down. **  
** ****

**  
** **[Allura] Huh?** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Oh, quiznak!** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!** **  
** **  
** **(In the control room of the Black Lion, Shiro sits in the pilot’s chair. He grabs the navigation handles and the lion roars once more. The lions shoot up once of the spires then drop back down to the ground once outside. The fighters bombard the forcefield with their lasers.)**

 

 **(Sendak on his bridge.)** **  
** **  
** **[Galra] The ion cannon is back online!**

 

“Oh, no…”

 ******  
** **[Sendak] Fire!**

 **(The cannon lights up. A huge beam of energy shoots from it and hits the forcefield around the castle.)** **  
** **  
** **(All are groaning at the hit.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk in his lion] Man, those Galra guys repair things fast.** **  
** **  
[Coran] The barrier gets weaker with every blast. Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenceless.**

 

“Oh no no no no no…”

 ******  
** **[Allura] I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Jeez, no pressure.** **  
** **  
** **(Another ion blast hits the forcefield.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro groaning in his lion] Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?**

 **(The other four nod their heads in affirmation.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance, Keith, and Pidge] Yes.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Let's do this!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Uh, how?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Good question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?**

 

“You rush into battle without even knowing how to form Voltron,” Luis deadpaned. **  
** ****

**[Hunk] I don't see a "combine into giant robot" button anywhere on my dashboard.**

**(The fighters shoot lasers at the lions as they race through the ground.)** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] This is insane! Can't they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask? (The Green Lion snatches a fighter from the sky with its teeth and hits another with a laser blast.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] We've got to do something. (Hunk rams his lion into Keith’s.)** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Combine!** **  
** **  
** **[Keith groans] Hey!**

 

A light laughter fills the room, but it quiets down rather quickly to leave the room silent once more to allow the episode to continue. **  
** **  
** ****

**[Hunk] Okay, that didn't work.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low! (She groans as they get hit again.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine. Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!**

 **(The five lions leap and soar upward into the air.)** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Here we go!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Come on, come on!** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro grunts] Nothing's happening.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Hey, wait, wait, wait! I feel something!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I do, too. I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Uh, guys, I think I know why. Look up.** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] What the cheese?** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!** **  
** **  
** **[Sendak] Send a report to Emperor Zarkon: "The day is ours."** **  
** **  
** **(The lions are caught in a tractor beam and an ion blast hits the forcefield around the castle, collapsing it.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Oh, no!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk screams his next words] I-I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] It can't end here!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] This is it!** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] It's been an honor flying with you boys.**

 

Mel giggled, breaking the dead silence that is still filling the room. “I’m sorry, but the way you say that…” **  
** **  
** ****

**[Hunk] Oh, no!**

**(On his bridge, Sendak grins. From the command center, Allura looks up sadly at Sendak’s ship in the sky above.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!**

 

Allura's smile was bright, if not a little weak. “Worthy of the leader of Voltron and Black Lion’s Paladin.” **  
** **  
** ****

**[Others] Yeah!** **  
** **  
** **(All lions roar as they light up and a flash fills the sky.)**

**(*Insert transformation sequence. they alter their shape to become their respective parts of Voltron.*)**

 

Mel truly had no energy left for describing a transformation sequence.

 

**(A purple flash from the ion cannon fills the sky, the ball of energy exploding in the mountains of the distance.)**

**(Allura and Coran gasp as the smoke clears.)**

 

 **(Voltron, an enormous robot composed of the five lions, appears.)** **  
** **  
** **[Sendak stagers backwards] Voltron!** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] I can't believe it!** **  
** **  
** **[Pidge] We formed Voltron!** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I'm a leg!** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] How are we doing this?** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] I don't know, but let's get that cannon!**

 

The cheers that filled the room did not stop one bit, clapping and whistling and yelling following through the rest of the battle.

 

 **(Voltron tears the cannon off Zendak’s ship and hurdles it to the ground. It slams the fist-like head of the Red Lion down the hall. The mouth of the Red Lion opens and a laser beam shoots through the opening of the hall. A section of the ship explodes.)** **  
** **  
** **(On the bridge, Sendak groans and stumbles forward.)** **  
** **  
** **(Voltron leaps up, lands on another section of the hall, and drives the foot-like head of the Blue Lion into the ship. A laser shoots from its mouth.)**

 

**(On the ship, Zendak watches from the viewscreen as the section of the ship explodes. He turns, and runs.)**

 

**(Voltron arches up off the ship then shoots back down toward it, breaking through the hall and coming out of the other side. Voltron swoops down and lands on the ground. The ship explodes behind it.)**

 

“Ok, ok, ok!” Mel tries to yell after taking a large gulp of water. “We still have a little left before a break, so settle down! I can’t believe a one hour episode took so long…” she ended up, muttering the last sentence to herself. _One last page to write, you can do this._

 

 **Scene: right outside the castle, Allura and Coran approach the other Paladins.** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] Good work, Paladins!** **  
** **  
** **(all sigh)** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] Thanks, pretty lady.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] We did it.** **  
** **  
** **[Keith] Heck yeah, we did.** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] How did we do it?** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it.**

 

A light hearted laugh escaped many mouths, all were relieved that the children were safe and alive.

 

 **(Shiro lays a hand on Pidge’s shoulder.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you. (Pidge smiles sadly.)** **  
** **  
** **[Allura] We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] Good thing you paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again.** **  
** **  
** **[Hunk] Totally. Wait, what?** **  
** **  
** **[Lance] We barely survived forming Voltron this one time.** **  
** **  
** **[Coran] And you only had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe.**

 **(The Paladins’ eyes widen. Shiro smiles.)** **  
** **  
** **[Shiro] Defenders of the Universe, huh? That's got a nice ring to it. (They all turn and look up at their lions.)**

 

Feather ruffling, Mel flew over the heads of everyone as the screen turned black and the cheering started again, much more contained this time though. They had just remembered that this? This was just the first and longest episode. The first season of what was going to be these seven people’s lives? Those are the only ones they knew for sure they had lived through.

What did the other episodes have in store for them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, I'm sorry, I'm still trying to work out the formatting here and though I do use Rich text, there are still things that have to be fixed. I'm trying to, k? Just wanted to post the chapter as soon as possible. Also, I feel like something is wrong because the word count of this chapter is a little more than what it should be. Please, write something in the comments or send me a little message if something is repeating and where! Thank you so so much <3
> 
> Find this same story on Wattpad right [HERE](https://www.wattpad.com/story/143919262-past-present-future)! 
> 
> Find this same story on Fanfiction.net right [HERE](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12909578/1/Past-Present-Future)!
> 
> Go follow my Instagram [HERE](https://www.instagram.com/melskyfall/) for any updates and fanfics to come!


	4. Characters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you're confused with who is who in which family and all, here's all of the family members! It will end up being the last chapter of this story as I go on posting and will be updated when a new character is introduced.

**Lance's Family**

Maresa Valdez -- mother

Abran McClain -- father

Luis McClain -- eldest brother (nine years difference)

Veronica McClain -- eldest sister (three years difference)

Marco McClain -- older brother (one year difference) 

Bellance Alta-McClain -- niece | Luis's daughter (a few months old)

and a multitude of other aunts, uncles, and cousins

 

**Hunk's Family**

Alea Daleen -- biological mother

Tepora Daleen -- mother

Julian Garrett -- biological father

(so basically Alea and Tepora are married and all but wanted a kid so Julian who they both considered a brother in everything but blood offered)

and a multitude of other uncles

 

**Keith's Family**

Krolia -- mother

Name never said -- father

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! Sorry if I gave the false alarm of a new chapter guys, love you all! <3
> 
> Find this same story on Wattpad right [HERE](https://www.wattpad.com/story/143919262-past-present-future)! 
> 
> Find this same story on Fanfiction.net right [HERE](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12909578/1/Past-Present-Future)!
> 
> Go follow my Instagram [HERE](https://www.instagram.com/melskyfall/) for any updates and fanfics to come!

**Author's Note:**

> Please keep in mind that this fic will mostly be for my free time and to take a break of life and other writings/fanfics. It also takes much of my time to add and rewrite from the scripts you can find online as they only contain what the characters say. Then, of course, is the issue where you have to write the characters themselves. 
> 
> Make sure to leave kudos if you enjoyed and bookmark if you're willing to see how this will go!


End file.
